A Comparison of Approaches Informed by Procedural Justice and Traditional Enforcement in the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt Demonstration

The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement funded the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) grant to explore the use of the principles of procedural justice during enforcement with the intent of improving the regular receipt of child support payments. Parents in the selected agencies were randomly assigned to one of two groups: one receiving PJAC services and one that applied traditional enforcement methods. This report compares the experiences of these two groups. Findings include: some elements of PJAC principals were already present in traditional enforcement but were applied consistently or regularly; the use of services such as modification, license reinstatement, etc. increased slightly in the PJAC group; and contempt filing decreased dramatically in the PJAC group.