Generally speaking, risk assessments were created to address a predominantly male population. While gender neutral risk factors such as criminal, substance abuse, and failure to appear (FTA) histories are relevant for both male and female populations, we are learning that gender neutral tools may miss critical gender specific risk factors that, if addressed, can achieve more successful outcomes with justice involved women.

"We have begun to collect together reports, studies, articles & other research on how courts may reduce the rate of people failing to appear at their court hearings through reminder systems. Here are the resources we have found. Please send us other resources that you know of, through the comment box below or through email."

"In Dane County, individuals now have the opportunity to sign up for text message reminders to alert them about upcoming court dates, a strategy meant to decrease failure-to-appear rates.

This recommendation was included in a report from a county Diversion Work Group, comprised of Dane County criminal justice officials and leaders of organizations that work with offenders, charged with reviewing all current adult and juvenile diversion programs. The system is meant to reduce the number of people not showing up for their court appearances."

"Reminding people to appear at court or to make payments has achieved solid results. We will discuss the studies, some courts with systems, and a USA commercial service provider in this article."

"Failure-to-appear (FTA) is a significant problem in the nation’s courts. This paper examines the effectiveness of using different kinds of written reminders to reduce misdemeanants’ FTA rates. Misdemeanants (n = 7865) in 14 Nebraska counties were randomly assigned to one of four conditions prior to their court date: no reminder (control), reminder-only, reminder with information on the negative consequences of FTA (reminder-sanctions), or reminder with information on sanctions as well as the procedural justice benefits of appearing (reminder-combined).

"Over the years, Juvenile Court has called juveniles/parents scheduled on the next day’s arraignment calendars to remind them of their court date. These calendars included delinquency matters as well as petty misdemeanor and CHIPS issues of truancy and runaway cases. During lean economic times, the question becomes; does using personnel to call to remind litigants of their appearances make economic sense? In fact, at different times, this service has been cancelled when staffing has been limited.

"If he were in almost any other courtroom in the country, he’d be ordered to stay behind bars until he posted bail - if he could afford it. This is what millions of people charged with crimes from shoplifting to shootings have done for more than two centuries. The bail system, enshrined in the Bill of Rights, is meant to ensure that all defendants, presumed innocent before trial, get a shot at freedom and return to court.

"This paper examines our local system of bail, its shortcomings, and puts forward a range of short, medium, and long-term reforms. These recommendations grow out the work of the San Francisco Fines and Fees Task Force, that was convened by the Board of Supervisors to assess and reform how fines, fees, tickets and financial penalties impact low income San Franciscans and communities of color. The Financial Justice Project leads the Fines and Fees Task Force and coordinated a consensus building discussion to conduct this analysis and develop these recommendations.