Internal audit report to the Board of Supervisors

              January 2008

Highlights
Internal Audit Report to the Board of Supervisors

Juvenile Probation
Documentation and Timeliness for Standard Probation and Diversion Cases Could be Improved
What We Found   Juvenile probation officers (JPOs) have not consistently complied with departmental contact policies when supervising juveniles on standard probation. Policies require one face-to-face contact with most juveniles and one contact with most parents or guardians per month. For cases reviewed, JPOs contacted only 64% of juveniles and 36% of parents requiring contact. (Juvenile Probation management reports that, due to system-conversion problems, contact data reviewed may be incomplete and understated.) Juvenile Probation diversion process needs improvement; interviews could be conducted in a timelier manner and the referral of non-compliant cases to the County Attorney needs to be defined and documented. 19% of juveniles in our sample were not contacted within 30 days of referral as required by policy. Juvenile probation officers do not always adequately document completion of community service hours, classes, and compliance with other required terms of probation and diversion consequences. We examined seven performance measures and found that the data collection procedures are reliable and key results are accurately reported for four of the seven measures. We could not certify three measures; two did not match our recalculation and one lacked supporting documentation.

Why We Did This Review
Internal Audit conducted this review as part of our FY2008 Board of Supervisors approved audit plan. The audit focused on Juvenile Probation's supervision responsibilities. We considered the following:   Whether court orders, assigned consequences, statutes, and departmental policies were followed Timeliness of the diversion program Accuracy and reliability of performance measure data

 

   

 

What We Recommend
We made recommendations to improve:       Departmental policies Timeliness of the diversion process Documentation of compliance with terms of probation and diversion consequences Defining when cases should be forwarded to the County Attorney Procedures for performance measures

 

Scope of Work We reviewed a sample of standard probation and diversion case files. The audit period covered fiscal years 2005, 2006, and 2007. We reviewed Performance Measures for fiscal years 2006 and 2007. Related Audit Activities We also conducted Minimum Accounting Standards and Information Technology reviews which will be issued separately. The following agencies conducted audits at approximately the same time as our review. These reports can be obtained from the issuing agency.     Arizona Administrative Office of the Courts Arizona Office of the Auditor General

 

 

We appreciate the excellent cooperation received from Juvenile Probation management and staff while conducting these procedures.
For more information, please contact Stella Fusaro, Audit Supervisor, at 602-506-1777 or fusaros@mail.maricopa.gov

Maricopa County Internal Audit Department