Highlights / Internal audit report to the Board of Supervisors: January 2008 |
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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
Object Description
| Rating | |
| TITLE | Internal audit report to the Board of Supervisors |
| CREATOR | Maricopa County Internal Audit Department |
| SUBJECT | Arizona--Auditing; Maricopa County (Ariz.); |
| Browse Topic |
Government and politics |
| DESCRIPTION | This title contains one or more publications. |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Maricopa County Internal Audit Department |
| Material Collection |
State Documents |
| Geographic Coverage | Maricopa County (Ariz.) |
| Location | New |
| REPOSITORY | Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records--Law and Research Library. |
Description
| TITLE | Highlights / Internal audit report to the Board of Supervisors: January 2008 |
| DESCRIPTION | 1 page (PDF version). File size: 80.899 KB. |
| TYPE | Text |
| Acquisition Note | Publication or link to publication sent to reports@lib.az.us |
| RIGHTS MANAGEMENT | Copyright to this resource is held by the creating agency and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be downloaded, reproduced or distributed in any format without written permission of the creating agency. Any attempt to circumvent the access controls placed on this file is a violation of United States and international copyright laws, and is subject to criminal prosecution. |
| DATE ORIGINAL | 2008-01 |
| Time Period |
2000s (2000-2009) |
| ORIGINAL FORMAT | Born digital |
| DIGITAL IDENTIFIER | 66 Juvenile Probation Internet Highlights (2).pdf |
| DIGITAL FORMAT | PDF (Portable Document Format) |
| REPOSITORY | Arizona State Library. Archives and Public Records--Law and Research Library. |
| File Size | 80.899 KB |
| Full Text | 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 |
