Report 2019-116 All Recommendation Responses

Report 2019-116: Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act: Weak Oversight Has Hindered Its Meaningful Implementation (Release Date: May 2020)

Recommendation for Legislative Action

To ensure that counties adequately identify how they serve at-risk youth, the Legislature should require counties to define at-risk youth—including identifying specific risk factors—in their comprehensive plans.

Description of Legislative Action

As of June 23, 2022, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

As of June 23, 2022, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

Description of Legislative Action

As of May 12, 2021, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

As of November 12, 2020, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

As of July 12, 2020, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

Recommendation for Legislative Action

To ensure that counties comply with juvenile justice planning requirements to serve both juvenile offenders and at-risk youth, the Legislature should require Community Corrections to review counties' annual comprehensive plans to ensure that they include an adequate county-specific definition of at-risk youth.

Description of Legislative Action

As of June 23, 2022, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

As of June 23, 2022, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

Description of Legislative Action

As of May 12, 2021, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

As of November 12, 2020, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

As of July 12, 2020, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

Recommendation for Legislative Action

The Legislature should direct Community Corrections to monitor counties' year-end reports to ensure that they include meaningful descriptions or analyses of how their JJCPA-funded programs may have contributed to or influenced countywide juvenile justice trends, as required by state law.

Description of Legislative Action

As of June 23, 2022, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

As of June 23, 2022, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

Description of Legislative Action

As of May 12, 2021, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

As of November 12, 2020, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation. However, AB 1007 (Jones-Sawyer) was substantially amended on June 29, 2020, to include provision that would require Community Corrections' annual report to provide a statewide analysis of county spending on programs and strategies that have been funded, including a quantitative and qualitative description of the total population of youth served in the preceding fiscal year, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, residence ZIP Code, and charges or activities warranting intervention.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

Recommendation #4 To: Mendocino County Probation Department

To ensure that its Coordinating Council meets statutory requirements and is transparent to stakeholders, Mendocino should reinstate its Coordinating Council and develop and implement bylaws for its Coordinating Council.

60-Day Agency Response

Mendocino County has reinstated its Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC) effective March 27, 2020. The JJCC met via audio conference due to the restrictions of COVID-19. At this meeting the JJCC reviewed and approved the following items: JJCC Bylaws, Annual Budget, and Updated Comprehensive Multi-Agency Juvenile Justice Plan (CMJJP). The JJCC unanimously approved these items to be presented to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors to accept and/or approve the individual items. On June 23, 2020, these items were approved by the Board, including the adoption of the JJCC Bylaws. A copy of the approved bylaws is attached. Implementation was completed by Izen Locatelli, Chief Probation Office, as the Chair of the JJCC.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Fully Implemented

Recommendation #5 To: San Joaquin County Probation Department

To ensure that its Coordinating Council meets statutory requirements and is transparent to stakeholders, San Joaquin should develop and implement bylaws for its Coordinating Council.

60-Day Agency Response

On May 18, 2020, a Juvenile Justice Coordinating Council (JJCC) meeting was held via teleconference (due to COVID-19 social distancing guidelines). During the meeting, the newly created Bylaws were reviewed and approved by the JJCC.

On June 16, 2020, the JJCC Bylaws were approved and adopted by the Board of Supervisors, under order# B-20-354, 5-0.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Fully Implemented

Recommendation #6 To: Kern County Probation Department

To determine the effectiveness of its use of JJCPA funds, Kern should include in its year-end reports to Community Corrections descriptions or analyses of how its JJCPA-funded programs influenced its juvenile justice trends, as required by law.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2022

Effective July 1, 2020, juvenile units started completing Stat Sheets for Youth Re-entry (YRES), Youth Placement (YPS), and Youth Supervision (YMS). To fully implement this recommendation, these monthly unit stat workbooks were revised over the past two years to include expanded supervision statuses and revised definitions. In conjunction with a newly developed Juvenile Data Management (JDM) system, Probation can run reports and determine what programs youth are receiving, dates of service, length of service, type of service, dosage hours, service provider, and risk level. By improving our systems, Probation can now capture JJCPA-YOBG statistics to identify juvenile justice trends.

Samples of the three stat workbooks and the JDM report are submitted as part of this response. These reports have been redacted to exclude protected confidential information.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

We reviewed the year-end report that Kern submitted to Community Corrections in October 2022 and confirmed that it included descriptions or analyses of how the county's JJCPA-funded programs influenced its juvenile justice trends.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

Probation formed a committee across the juvenile divisions (Juvenile Services and Juvenile Programs) in conjunction with the Research, Analysis & Data (RAD) Unit to develop statistical forms that more effectively capture data to compare with county-wide trend data. Effective July 1, 2020, juvenile units started completing a General Unit Stat Sheet and a Placement Unit Stat Sheet. These forms include definitions to ensure reporting accuracy and provide the ability to identify trends that impact services including programs funded by JJCPA and YOBG. Staff have entered information from these stat sheets for the first year, July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021. Though the information has been entered into the newly developed Juvenile Data Management (JDM) system, the Probation Department is in the process of reviewing the data for accuracy and developing the necessary reports needed to fully implement this recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

1-Year Agency Response

Probation formed a committee across the juvenile divisions (Juvenile Services and Juvenile Programs) in conjunction with the Research, Analysis & Data (RAD) Unit to develop statistical forms that more effectively capture data to compare with county-wide trend data. Effective July 1, 2020, juvenile units now must complete a General Unit Stat Sheet and a Placement Unit Stat Sheet. These forms include definitions to ensure reporting accuracy and provide the ability to identify trends that impact services including programs funded by JJCPA and YOBG. By using these stat sheets, staff will be able to compare data year-over-year, impact on county-wide trends, and better aptly serve youth. The first complete year of using the stat sheets and entering the data will be included in the reports submitted October 1, 2021 when the year-end reports are due to Community Corrections, and each year thereafter.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

6-Month Agency Response

Probation formed a committee across the juvenile divisions (Juvenile Services and Juvenile Programs) in conjunction with the Research, Analysis & Data (RAD) Unit to develop statistical forms that more effectively capture data to compare with county-wide trend data. Effective July 1, 2020, juvenile units now must complete a General Unit Stat Sheet and a Placement Unit Stat Sheet. These forms include definitions to ensure reporting accuracy and provide the ability to identify trends that impact services including programs funded by JJCPA and YOBG. By using these stat sheets, staff will be able to compare data year-over-year, impact on county-wide trends, and better aptly serve youth. The first complete year of using the stat sheets and entering the data will be included in the reports submitted October 1, 2021 when the year-end reports are due to Community Corrections, and each year thereafter.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

Probation formed a committee across the juvenile divisions (Juvenile Services and Juvenile Programs) in conjunction with the Research, Analysis & Data (RAD) Unit to develop statistical forms that more effectively capture data to compare with county-wide trend data. Effective July 1, 2020, juvenile units now must complete a General Unit Stat Sheet and a Placement Unit Stat Sheet (forms provided via email). These forms include definitions to ensure reporting accuracy and provide the ability to identify trends that impact services including programs funded by JJCPA and YOBG. By using these stat sheets, staff will be able to compare data year-over-year, impact on county-wide trends, and better aptly serve youth. Kern will include this information in its year-end reports due October 1st each year to Community Corrections.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

Recommendation #7 To: Los Angeles County Probation Department

To determine the effectiveness of its use of JJCPA funds, Los Angeles should include in its year-end reports to Community Corrections descriptions or analyses of how its JJCPA-funded programs influenced its juvenile justice trends, as required by law.

6-Month Agency Response

As a follow-up to our 60-Day response, the influence of the JJCPA funded programs on juvenile justice trends in Los Angeles County was previously documented in several evaluation reports. Additionally, Probation included information in the year-end report submitted to BSCC (October 1, 2020). Examples of information included in this report are as follows: regarding School-Based programming, a recent evaluation from Research Development Associates (RDA), completed in April 2018, included the finding that "youth receiving these services were 30-40% less likely to recidivate than the comparison group." In an analysis by the RAND Corporation focusing on Fiscal Year (FY) 2016-2017, youth receiving Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST) were compared to those who were near misses for program participation. Youth in MST had better outcomes with respect to arrest, incarceration, completion of probation, restitution, community service and probation violation, even if not statistically significant. Similarly, an RDA evaluation of the Client Assessment Rehabilitation Evaluation (CARE) Project found that the program was highly effective in reducing negative contacts with the juvenile system and improving dispositional outcomes for Public Defender clients. These evaluation efforts provide more direct evidence that JJCPA-funded programming may be contributing to decreases in juvenile arrests that have been observed since 2017. In addition, many of the JJCPA-funded efforts are grounded in evidence-based prevention and intervention models. Therefore, although recent evaluation data are not yet available for all programs, the use of evidence-based practices further increases the likelihood that JJCPA-funded programs contributed to overall reductions in youth juvenile justice involvement. Evaluation efforts are underway for additional JJCPA-funded programs, and we will continue to include available evaluation and other descriptions/analyses in future year-end reports.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

The influence of the JJCPA funded programs on juvenile justice trends in Los Angeles County has previously been documented in several evaluation reports. However, in collaboration with the JJCPA evaluator, the Probation Department will develop a format that further demonstrates program impacts of JJCPA-funded programs on Los Angeles County's juvenile justice trends for the year-end report to Community Corrections due in October 2020.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

Recommendation #8 To: Mendocino County Probation Department

To determine the effectiveness of its use of JJCPA funds, Mendocino should include in its year-end reports to Community Corrections descriptions or analyses of how its JJCPA-funded programs influenced its juvenile justice trends, as required by law.

6-Month Agency Response

This item was implemented in the County's year-end report that was submitted to Community Corrections on September 25, 2020. In the "Analysis of Countywide Trend Data" section, a copy of which is attached, Mendocino County provided a description of how our JJCPA-funded programs have influenced the county's juvenile justice trends. As we further implement the recommendation of collecting data on all participants and obtain more historical data our description and analysis will become more data-driven and specific. It is, however, our interpretation that we have met the requirements of this recommendation.

It should be noted that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the current and prior fiscal year, delivery of many programs were adversely impacted by reductions or cancellations of services. This is most notable for programming occurring in school settings. We anticipate the continuation of the effects of the pandemic throughout this fiscal year. We continue to work with our CBO and internal staff to evaluate and implement, when possible, alternative ways to deliver the necessary services to the youth of Mendocino County.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

This item will be implemented in the County's first year-end report due to Community Corrections subsequent to the issuance of the recommendations contained in the report. The person(s) responsible for implementation are the Chief Probation Officer and his staff to include, but not limited to, the Administrative Services Manager, Department Analyst, and other staff as appropriate or necessary.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

Recommendation #9 To: San Joaquin County Probation Department

To determine the effectiveness of its use of JJCPA funds, San Joaquin should include in its year-end reports to Community Corrections descriptions or analyses of how its JJCPA-funded programs influenced its juvenile justice trends, as required by law.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From September 2021

In Fiscal Year 2020-2021, the (2019-2020) Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act and Youthful Offender Block Grant (JJCPA-YOBG) Consolidated Annual Plan was submitted to the Board of State and Community Corrections. In this specific plan, the San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op included program descriptions and review analysis of juvenile justice trends from a Federal, State and local perspective for a period of 10 years. The analysis of how the department's JJCPA-funded programs influenced its juvenile justice trends included data from calendar years 2018 and 2019, and will be attached for reference (Pgs. 74-80). Furthermore, the Department's 2020 JJCPA-YOBG Annual Data Expenditure Report, also includes trend analysis analyzing national, state and county data over a period of 10 years, and how these trends were impacted by the programs implemented and funded through JJCPA-YOBG. The Annual Data Expenditure Report will be attached for reference and review, along with a supplemental JJCPA-YOBG trend analysis document.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

1-Year Agency Response

In the current fiscal year (2019 - 2020) Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act and Youthful Offender Block Grant Consolidated Annual Plan, the San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op included program descriptions and review analysis of juvenile justice trends from a Federal, State and local perspective for a period of 10 years. The analysis of how the department's JJCPA-funded programs influenced its juvenile justice trends includes data from calendar years 2018 and 2019 (Attached plan pgs. 59-78).

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

San Joaquin provided its most recent Annual Juvenile Probation Evaluation Report, which includes trend analyses of referrals to the probation department and describes how the JJCPA-funded programs in San Joaquin influence its juvenile justice trends. However, the year-end reports San Joaquin submitted to Community Corrections in September 2020 still do not include descriptions or analyses of how the county's JJCPA-funded programs influenced its juvenile justice trends. Until it includes this information in its year-end reports, as required by law, we will continue to report this recommendation as pending.

6-Month Agency Response

On May 26, 2020, the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Consolidated Annual Plan of the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act and Youthful Offender Block Grant (JJCPA-YOBG) was submitted to the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC).

In addition to the Consolidated Annual Plan, the 2018-2019, Annual Juvenile Probation Evaluation Report, prepared by the San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op, was also submitted to the BSCC. This report consisted in the evaluation of the Probation Officers on Campus, Reconnect Day Reporting Center, and the Neighborhood Service Centers.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

San Joaquin provided the same response to this recommendation as its 60-day response. Nonetheless, we reviewed the year-end reports San Joaquin submitted to Community Corrections in September 2020 and found they did not include descriptions or analyses of how the county's JJCPA-funded programs influenced its juvenile justice trends. Until it includes this information in its year-end reports, as required by law, we will continue to report this recommendation as not fully implemented.

60-Day Agency Response

On May 26, 2020, the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Consolidated Annual Plan of the Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act and Youthful Offender Block Grant (JJCPA-YOBG) was submitted to the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC).

In addition to the Consolidated Annual Plan, the 2018-2019, Annual Juvenile Probation Evaluation Report, prepared by the San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op, was also submitted to the BSCC. This report consisted in the evaluation of the Probation Officers on Campus, Reconnect Day Reporting Center, and the Neighborhood Service Centers.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

The probation department provided us with the fiscal year 2020-21 Consolidated Annual Plan and the 2018-19 evaluation report. However, we recommended that the county include in its year-end reports to Community Corrections descriptions or analyses of how its JJCPA-funded programs influenced its juvenile justice trends, as required by law. Because year-end reports are not due to Community Corrections until October 2020, we have assessed the status of this recommendation as pending.

Recommendation #10 To: Santa Barbara County Probation Department

To determine the effectiveness of its use of JJCPA funds, Santa Barbara should include in its year-end reports to Community Corrections descriptions or analyses of how its JJCPA-funded programs influenced its juvenile justice trends, as required by law.

6-Month Agency Response

The 2019-20 year-end report to the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) was submitted September 22, 2020. The Probation Department included trend analysis informed by locally available juvenile justice data, as well as analysis based on internal Department caseload data and risk and needs assessment.

For FY 2020-21, the Department included robust performance measures in the service contracts for each juvenile provider, which include a set of measures standardized across all programs, as well as a set of program-specific measures tailored to the services each provider is contracted to perform. This will provide more comprehensive enrollment and performance outcome data, and will allow the Department to provide stronger analysis over time of the nexus between funded programs and local juvenile justice trends, as well as recidivism rates for youth served specifically by these funds.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

The 2019-20 year-end report to the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) will be due for submittal in October, 2020. The Probation Department will include trend analysis informed by locally available juvenile justice data, as well as analysis based on internal Department caseload data, risk and needs assessment, and recidivism information.

In FY 2019-20, the Department introduced very basic performance measures, to help providers understand the concepts of program evaluation and begin the transition to more comprehensive evaluation measures. In FY 2020-21, the Department has included robust performance measures in the service contracts for each juvenile provider, which include a set of measures standardized across all programs, as well as a set of program-specific measures tailored to the services each provider is contracted to perform. This will provide more comprehensive performance outcome data, and will allow the Department to provide stronger analysis over time of the nexus between funded programs and local juvenile justice trends.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

Recommendation #11 To: Los Angeles County Probation Department

To adequately assess the effectiveness of its programs at reducing juvenile crime and delinquency, Los Angeles should collect data on all participants in each JJCPA program and for each service it provides.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From September 2023

As mentioned in our prior Recommendation response follow-up (10/8/2021, Fall 2022), the County of Los Angeles, in collaboration with our JJCPA evaluator, has developed a general program evaluation design, including a JJCPA evaluation framework/metrics that also included finalizing data collection requirements for analyzing/reporting on justice outcomes, indices of service utilization, sign-in sheet templates to facilitate data collection template for data submission with youth identifiers and status in programs, data requirements for inclusion in agreements with applicable governmental agencies/utilization in solicitation processes and identified instances where the program design suggests that other outcome measurement approaches may be more appropriate. Further, the evaluator is the final stages of producing a toolkit that agencies can utilize to support the collection of evaluation data. Moving forward, Probation will continue to collect data from programs serving Probation-involved youth and will work with another County department to track the data for at-promise youth. The JJCPA evaluator will continue to provide additional technical assistance for any challenges/concerns, such as providing guidance on how to build evaluation data collection into existing program procedures and how to select additional data elements specific to the expected outcomes of each program. As more quantitative data becomes available from funded programs, our JJCPA evaluator will analyze data on youth served and youth outcomes, including data on any program-specific outcomes and juvenile justice involvement as available. Probation anticipates collection of specific data to be completed (and on-going) by the next annual response due date in order to adequately assess the effectiveness of participant programs at reducing crime and delinquency.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From December 2022

As mentioned in our response (10/8/2021), the County of Los Angeles, in collaboration with our JJCPA evaluator, has developed a general program evaluation design, including a JJCPA evaluation framework/metrics that included finalizing data collection requirements for analyzing/reporting on justice outcomes, indices of service utilization, sign-in sheet templates (Probation and at-promise youth programs) to facilitate data collection, template for data submission with youth identifiers and status in programs, data requirements for inclusion in agreements with applicable governmental agencies/utilization in solicitation processes and identified instances where the program design suggests that other outcome measurement approaches may be more appropriate. Through data focused meetings with multiple funded programs, they reviewed expectations for collection of youth identifiers and provided technical assistance for any challenges/concerns. informed by evaluability assessments they conducted on existing programs which serve as an additional opportunity to identify potential data collection challenges and determine whether there are additional data elements specific to the expected outcomes of each program that programs should consider collecting for evaluation purposes. As part of this process, our JJCPA evaluator conducted targeted literature searches to identify outcomes relevant to programs like those funded through JJCPA and to make recommendations on specific measures that programs could consider utilizing. The collection of data for specific full program evaluation has been finalized for the first phase of programs under evaluation. Our JJCPA evaluator is targeting the analysis of quantitative data on youth served and potential outcome data for preliminary reporting once the County finalizes the data collection for the remaining programs, particularly those which serve at-promise youth.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

As a follow-up to our 1-Year response, the County of Los Angeles, in collaboration with our JJCPA evaluator, has developed a general program evaluation design, including a JJCPA evaluation framework and metrics that included finalizing: data collection requirements for analyzing/reporting on justice outcomes, indices of service utilization (e.g., number of youth served across programs and youth demographics), templates for sign-in sheets for Probation/at-promise youth programs to facilitate data collection, a template for submission of data with youth identifiers, status in programs and data requirements for inclusion in applicable governmental agencies' agreements/utilization in solicitation processes. Our evaluator also identified instances where the program design suggests other outcome measurement approaches may be more appropriate, held data focused meetings with multiple funded programs to review the expectations for collection of youth identifiers and provide technical assistance for any challenges or concerns. The evaluator is currently conducting evaluability assessments on existing programs, which serve as an additional opportunity to identify potential data collection challenges and determine whether there are additional data elements specific to the expected outcomes of each program that programs should consider collecting for evaluation purposes. As part of this process, our evaluator also conducted targeted literature searches to identify outcomes relevant to programs like those funded through JJCPA and to make recommendations on specific measures that programs could consider utilizing. Additionally, the collection of data for specific full program evaluation is in process of finalization. Our evaluator is targeting the analysis of quantitative data on youth served and potential outcome data for preliminary reporting prior to the next 1-Year audit response due during the Fall of 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

1-Year Agency Response

As a follow-up to our 6-Month response, the County of Los Angeles is working with our JJCPA Evaluator to document confirmation of data collected on "all participants in each JJCPA program and service to adequately assess the effectiveness of those programs at reducing juvenile crime and delinquency" for Base and one-time Growth funded programs. This process will be completed in lieu of direct State Auditor's Office follow-up, as discussed with their Office after the 6-Month response was submitted. Additionally, there were some unanticipated delays in completing this process due to COVID-19. It is anticipated that this process will be completed prior to the next 1 Year audit response due May 12, 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

Los Angeles continues to work with an evaluator to, among other objectives, advise the county about data collection. Consequently, our assessment of the county's implementation of this recommendation is pending the evaluator's report on data collection and Los Angeles's ability to demonstrate that it is collecting data on all participants in each JJCPA program and for each service it provides. Although Los Angeles indicates it will complete this process in lieu of our office's follow-up, we will continue to review the status of this recommendation as part of our regular follow-up process.

6-Month Agency Response

As a follow-up to our 60-Day response, the County of Los Angeles has available data for JJCPA (Base) funded programs for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-2020. Additionally, the JJCPA Evaluator is working with the County to evaluate identified programs during FY 2020-2021, with a plan to continue this process through the next several FYs.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

As referenced in its response, Los Angeles has contracted with an evaluator to, among other objectives, advise the county about data collection. Consequently, our assessment of the county's implementation of this recommendation is pending the evaluator's report on data collection and Los Angeles's ability to demonstrate that it is collecting data on all participants in each JJCPA program and for each service it provides.

60-Day Agency Response

The County of Los Angeles is in the process of finalizing data collection on JJCPA program participants for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 (July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2020); this process is targeted to be completed by October 2020 and updated information will be provided in the 6-month audit response due on November 12, 2020.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

Recommendation #12 To: Mendocino County Probation Department

To adequately assess the effectiveness of its programs at reducing juvenile crime and delinquency, Mendocino should collect data on all participants in each JJCPA program and for each service it provides.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

Mendocino County does not agree with the evaluation from our year 1 response in May of 2021 that the recommendation was only Partially Implemented. We feel we have Fully Implemented. As evidenced by the supporting documents we provided at that time, Mendocino is collecting a large amount of participant data for each JJCPA program and service. As we mentioned, the process of data collection isn't a stagnant effort, but rather an on-going process that continues to evolve.

The limited space provided here for response does not allow full explanation of the circumstances regarding our assessment. We are submitting a detailed letter regarding the status of our implementation separately as a supporting document. For the reasons stated in this supporting letter, we request that the status of this recommendation be amended to Fully Implemented.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

Although Mendocino disagrees with our May 2021 assessment, it did not provide evidence at that time to support its claim that it had fully implemented our recommendation. Mendocino provided more recent documentation to support that it is now collecting data on all the participants in the Foundations program. Additionally, Mendocino indicated that the implementation of its IMPACT program has been delayed because of the pandemic, but it has developed a template that it will use to collect participant data. Finally, Mendocino's GREAT program provides presentations to groups of individuals who are not involved with the justice system, so it is reasonable for Mendocino to not collect participant-specific data.

1-Year Agency Response

Mendocino County Probation has 2 partners providing services for out-of-custody youth - Mendocino County Youth Project (MCYP) & GEO Reentry. Working with our partners, we have established data collection requirements for JJCPA-funded services. Data is provided to Mendocino County Probation on a monthly basis. Provided are copies of data provided by these partners for billed months. MCYP: 1)Foundations Monthly Reports for October 2020-February 2021, 2)Dual Diagnosis 602 Services for September & October 2020. MCYP lost data for several months prior to October 2020 due system issues. They implemented a new fiscal/case mgmt. system & was limited on the data they were able to rebuild. Also provided are copies of data from GEO Reentry for July 2020-April 2021. Our CMJJP also includes the IMPACT & GREAT programs, provided by Probation staff in coordination with Mendocino County schools. Implementation was delayed due to COVID-19 & remote education; so, we do not have data to provide. Implementation targeted for July 2021. Data collection efforts are an on-going process that evolves as we evaluate our programming. We continue to work with our providers & staff on type of data which will assist in our analysis. Data requirements also change as programming needs change. We have written language into our contracts with our providers, requiring annual meetings for data review and potential change in trends for youth treatment & service needs. Due to COVID-19 pandemic during the current & prior fiscal year, many programs were adversely impacted by reductions or cancellations of services; most notably for programming in school settings. We anticipate the effects of the pandemic through this fiscal year and into the next, hoping as restrictions ease we will be able to increase services to the youth of our community. We continue to work with our outside providers and our internal staff to evaluate & implement, when possible, alternative service delivery methods.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Partially Implemented

Based upon our review of supporting documentation provided by Mendocino, we determined that it is not collecting data on all the participants in several of its programs, including Foundations, the IMPACT and GREAT programs. Further, Mendocino indicates in its response that it includes language in its contracts with providers that requires annual meetings for data review. However, Mendocino stated in a follow-up email that such language is not yet included in all of its current contracts with providers. Therefore, we have assessed the status of this recommendation as partially implemented.

6-Month Agency Response

Mendocino County worked with our Community Based Organization (CBO) partner, Mendocino County Youth Project (MCYP), to establish data requirements for program and service participants. We are also collecting data from our internal staff that are, or will be, providing programming/services. Attached are copies of the "Accounting of JJCPA-YOBG Expenditures" sections for the two (2) programs that are JJCPA-funded that reflect current data collection. Data collection efforts are not stagnant, but rather an on-going process. Our data collection and analysis activities will continue to evolve as we evaluate our programming. We continue to work with our providers on the type of data which will assist in our analysis. We have, however, established the basic data collection processes that we will continue to expand and develop, which we interpret as satisfying this recommendation.

It should be noted that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the current and prior fiscal year, delivery of many programs were adversely impacted by reductions or cancellations of services. This is most notable for programming occurring in school settings. We anticipate the continuation of the effects of the pandemic throughout this fiscal year. We continue to work with our CBO and internal staff to evaluate and implement, when possible, alternative ways to deliver the necessary services to the youth of Mendocino County.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

The attachments Mendocino provided to us indicate at a high-level various data elements, including number and length of sessions and number of juveniles served. However, Mendocino did not substantiate to what extent it collects data on all participants in each JJCPA program and for each service it provides. Until it does so, we will continue to report this recommendation as pending.

60-Day Agency Response

Mendocino County is working with our Community Based Organization (CBO) partners to establish the data required for program and service participants in each program provided. We are also working with our internal staff that are, or will be, providing programming/services to develop and establish the performance criteria and data required to adequately assess the effectiveness of our programs. Several of the programs/services are a new component of our JJCPA program; therefore, we are able to develop and establish the appropriate criteria at the onset of the program/service. Some of the programs/services that are part of our JJCPA program have been delayed or otherwise impacted as a result of the COVID-19 events currently impacting the country. The Assistant Chief Probation Officer has been assigned the task of overseeing the implementation, evaluation and assessment of the various programs/services which are part of our CMJJP. We anticipate full implementation of this recommendation within 12 months; however, COVID-19 events may delay or require modification to some implementation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

Recommendation #13 To: San Joaquin County Probation Department

To adequately assess the effectiveness of its programs at reducing juvenile crime and delinquency, San Joaquin should collect data on all participants in each JJCPA program and for each service it provides.

1-Year Agency Response

In the current fiscal year (2019 - 2020) Consolidated Annual Plan, the San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op included outcome data from all of our JJCPA participants in the Positive Youth Justice Initiative agencies and the services they provide (Attached plan pgs. 42-58). This includes Fathers and Families of San Joaquin, Sow a Seed Community Foundation, and the Community Partnerships for Families of San Joaquin. Also included in the scope of evaluation is the department's Family Focused Intervention Team (Attached plan pgs. 34-41), which had not been included in previous annual reports.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

To conduct evaluations of its JJCPA-funded programs, San Joaquin works with the San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op to collect data about the participants in those programs. San Joaquin was able to demonstrate that it collected data on participants, and the San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op provided its methodology for ensuring the data includes all participants and is accurate. As a result, we have assessed this recommendation as fully implemented.

6-Month Agency Response

On June 11, 2020, the San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op provided the Probation Department with three separate Scope of Services to evaluate the Family Focused Intervention Team, the Positive Youth Justice Initiative (PYJI)-Community Based Organizations (Fathers and Families, Community Partnership for Families and Sow a Seed), and the Transitional Aged Youth Unit. The San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op will include the outcomes of these programs in next year's JJCPA-YOBG Annual Plan to the BSCC.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

The scope of services document San Joaquin provided us describes the work and tasks that the San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op plans to perform for the county. However, the documents do not indicate whether San Joaquin has begun collecting data on all participants in each JJCPA program and for each service it provides. According to its chief probation officer, the county will be able to demonstrate it implemented this recommendation once the San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op collects the data on all participants, as we recommended.

60-Day Agency Response

On June 11, 2020, the San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op provided the Probation Department with three separate Scope of Services to evaluate the Family Focused Intervention Team, the Positive Youth Justice Initiative (PYJI)-Community Based Organizations (Fathers and Families, Community Partnership for Families and Sow a Seed), and the Transitional Aged Youth Unit. The San Joaquin Community Data Co-Op will include the outcomes of these programs in next year's JJCPA-YOBG Annual Plan to the BSCC.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

Recommendation #14 To: Kern County Probation Department

To accurately assess the effectiveness of its programs, Kern should determine how to accurately identify in its case management system the JJCPA programs and services in which each individual participates or should enhance its system to provide this capability.

1-Year Agency Response

The current CMS system is within the county-wide Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) which is over 30 years old, with limited functionality and limited enhancement capabilities. For several years, the County has been working toward a replacement for CJIS with a CMS component with no success at this time. Kern County continues to research options toward obtaining a fully competent CMS solution. In the interim, Kern developed an application, Juvenile Data Management (JDM), to replace the previous contact manager system utilized by supervision officers. The new application tracks participants in the JJCPA and YOBG programs and retains historical data until a new CMS is implemented. The go-live date for JDM was October 6, 2020. All supervision cases were entered into the system as of December 31, 2020.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

Through video conferencing, Kern was able to demonstrate the capabilities of its Juvenile Data Management application to track individuals who are participating in the JJCPA programs and services. Although the application is relatively new, Kern asserted that its Research, Analysis, and Data unit was involved in developing the application and will use the application in the future to evaluate the JJCPA-funded programs and services.

6-Month Agency Response

The current CMS system is within the county-wide Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) which is over 30 years old, with limited functionality and limited enhancement capabilities. For several years, the County has been working toward a replacement for CJIS with a CMS component with no success at this time. Kern continues to research options toward obtaining a fully competent CMS solution. In the interim, Kern has developed an application, Juvenile Data Management (JDM), to replace the current contact manager system utilized by supervision officers. This application tracks participants in the JJCPA and YOBG programs and retains historical data until a new CMS is implemented. The go-live date for JDM was October 6, 2020. In October 2020, probation staff were trained on this application and have started migrating case information over to this new application. All supervision cases need to be entered into the system by December 31, 2020.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

The current CMS system is within the county-wide Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) which is over 30 years old with limited functionality and limited enhancement capabilities. For several years, the County has been working toward a replacement for CJIS with a CMS component with no success at this time. Kern continues to research options toward obtaining a fully competent CMS solution. In the interim, Kern is developing an application, Juvenile Data Management (JDM), to replace the current contact manager system utilized by supervision officers. This application will track participants in the JJCPA and YOBG programs and retain historical data until a new CMS is implemented. The anticipated start date for using JDM is September 1, 2020.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

Recommendation #15 To: Los Angeles County Probation Department

To accurately assess the effectiveness of its programs, Los Angeles should determine how to accurately identify in its case management system the JJCPA programs and services in which each individual participates or should enhance its system to provide this capability.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From September 2023

As mentioned in our response submitted on 10/8/2021 and in the Fall of 2022, the County of Los Angeles Probation Department's case management system is designed to track Probation youth case information only as models are designed to meet other criteria. The County consulted with the JJCPA evaluator to develop a process to track JJCPA funded services for Probation youth in our case management system. Probation has finalized the process of making enhancements to our case management system to include specific JJCPA funded program and services tracking capability. After the first quarter post implementation, Probation will continue to work with the JJCPA evaluator to verify program/service tracking implementation and submit an updated response, with this verification, prior to the next annual response due date for this Recommendation..

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From December 2022

As mentioned in our response submitted on 10/8/2021, the County of Los Angeles Probation Department's case management system is designed to track Probation youth case information only as models are designed to meet other criteria. The County consulted with the JJCPA evaluator to develop a process to track JJCPA funded services for Probation youth in our case management system. Probation is in the process of finalizing these enhancements for our case management system to include specific JJCPA funded program and services tracking capability. Once this process is completed and prior to the next annual response due date, Probation will provide an updated response to this Recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

As mentioned in our 1-Year response (submitted 5/12/2021), the County of Los Angeles Probation Department's case management system is designed to track Probation youth case information only as models are designed to meet other criteria. The County consulted with our JJCPA evaluator to develop a draft process to track JJCPA funded services for Probation youth in our case management system; implementation is targeted for potential preliminary review by our JJCPA evaluator prior to the next 1-Year audit response due date of Fall 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

1-Year Agency Response

As mentioned in our 6-Month response, the County of Los Angeles Probation Department's case management system is designed to track Probation youth case information only as models are designed to meet other criteria. We continue with the process of seeking ways to upgrade our case management system to meet the evolving needs of data collection and evaluation. It is anticipated that our previous target completion date remains in place and will be reported by the next 1 Year audit response due May 12, 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

6-Month Agency Response

As mentioned in our 60-Day response, the County of Los Angeles Probation Department's case management system is designed to track Probation youth case information only as models are designed to meet other criteria. We are in the process of seeking ways to upgrade our case management system to meet the evolving needs of data collection and evaluation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

The County of Los Angeles Probation Department's case management system is designed to track Probation youth case information only and is not designed for non-Probation youth or all participant information as models are designed to meet other criteria. Therefore, all program participation cannot be captured in the current system as designed. We will continue to seek ways to upgrade Probation's case management system to meet the evolving needs of data collection and evaluation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

Recommendation #16 To: Santa Barbara County Probation Department

To accurately assess the effectiveness of its programs, Santa Barbara should determine how to accurately identify in its case management system the JJCPA programs and services in which each individual participates or should enhance its system to provide this capability.

6-Month Agency Response

Program selection options within the Santa Barbara County Probation Department's case management system (IMPACT) now include funding identifiers for all JJCPA funded programs. Upon enrollment in a funded program, Probation Department staff update the youth's record in IMPACT by selecting the specific program name and entering the enrollment date. As shown in figures provided to the State Auditor, the program name now includes the funding source as part of the nomenclature and identifies the JJCPA funded programs and services in which each youth participates (e.g. Multidimensional Family Therapy-JJCPA). This system enhancement also includes a 'program' selection for youth receiving a Behavioral Wellness JJCPA assessment. The 'program' is opened when the assessment is requested, and closed when the completed assessment is received.

On a monthly basis, staff also receive up-to-date enrollment information from community-based organizations (i.e. providers) delivering JJCPA funded programs (figures provided to the State Auditor). As an additional QA check, Probation staff verify that each youth's file in IMPACT matches the provider's enrollment information. Inconsistencies are communicated to staff and errors are corrected.

Also on a monthly basis, staff run a data query identifying all youth active in the various JJCPA funded programs (figures provided to the State Auditor). This data is reviewed to ensure youth are showing as enrolled in the correct programs (with correct nomenclature), that totals from the query are consistent with providers' records (and vice versa), that any outdated programs are removed from the IMPACT selection options and that programs are closed once the service has ended.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

In June 2020, the Probation Department convened an internal workgroup to examine categories of JJCPA-funded programs and services, and determine how best to track individual youth receiving services. The workgroup identified the following changes to be made within IMPACT, the department's case management system:

1) Modify existing program selection options within IMPACT to ensure that JJCPA funded programs are automatically identified and memorialized when officers select funded community-based organization services as a 'program', and close that 'program' once the service has ended. This links the service to the youth within a specified date range. Program nomenclature will include the specific identifier "JJCPA."

2) Designate specific JJCPA-funded officer caseloads as JJCPA caseloads within IMPACT, and ensure that this designation does not change over time. Youth assigned to these caseloads will be easily identifiable as receiving supervision services funded by JJCPA.

3) Ensure a 'program' selection is available for a youth receiving a Behavioral Wellness JJCPA assessment. The 'program' would be opened when the assessment is requested, and closed when the completed assessment is received.

We anticipate these changes will be implemented by September 1, 2020. The Department's Research team will design a quality assurance (QA) schedule to ensure data is being entered according to instructions.

In addition, the Department identified data elements to be provided on an ongoing basis by the Department of Behavioral Wellness, in order to track the assessments provided by JJCPA-funded practitioners, and those data elements will be included in a forthcoming Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Departments. This MOU is anticipated to be in place by September 1, 2020.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

Recommendation #17 To: State and Community Corrections, Board of

To ensure that counties' comprehensive plans are informative and up to date, Community Corrections should revise its comprehensive plan template to require Coordinating Councils to specify plan components their counties are changing and to describe those changes. If a county is making no changes, the template should require the Coordinating Council to explain why no changes to the plan are necessary.

60-Day Agency Response

The BSCC has updated the annual plan template to capture requested changes counties have made, and if no changes, the counties are to explain why there were no changes. The new template was used for the May 2020 collection of the annual plan.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Fully Implemented

Recommendation for Legislative Action

To enable Community Corrections to provide effective oversight of the required elements of the JJCPA, the Legislature should amend state law to describe a process for restricting the spending of JJCPA funding by counties that do not meet the requirements of the JJCPA. As part of that process, the State should prohibit counties that have not established Coordinating Councils from spending JJCPA funds.

Description of Legislative Action

As of June 23, 2022, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

SB 493 (Bradford, 2021) would have, in part, required no less than 95% of JJCPA funds allocated to be distributed to community-based organizations and other public agencies or departments that are not law enforcement entities, and it would have prohibited this portion of the funds from being used for law enforcement activities or personnel. The bill would have required a local juvenile justice coordinating council to include additional information in its annual report to the board of supervisors and Community Corrections relating to their programs, including data on participants. It also would have imposed additional requirements on Community Corrections with respect to those annual reports, including, but not limited to, providing a statewide analysis of county spending. This bill died in the Senate.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

As of June 23, 2022, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

SB 493 (Bradford, 2021) would have, in part, required no less than 95% of JJCPA funds allocated to be distributed to community-based organizations and other public agencies or departments that are not law enforcement entities, and it would have prohibited this portion of the funds from being used for law enforcement activities or personnel. The bill would have required a local juvenile justice coordinating council to include additional information in its annual report to the board of supervisors and Community Corrections relating to their programs, including data on participants. It also would have imposed additional requirements on Community Corrections with respect to those annual reports, including, but not limited to, providing a statewide analysis of county spending. This bill died in the Senate.

Description of Legislative Action

As of May 12, 2021, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

SB 493 (Bradford, 2021) would, in part, require no less than 95% of JJCPA funds allocated to be distributed to community-based organizations and other public agencies or departments that are not law enforcement entities, and would prohibit this portion of the funds from being used for law enforcement activities or personnel. The bill would require a local juvenile justice coordinating council to include additional information in its annual report to the board of supervisors and Community Corrections relating to their programs, including data on participants, and would impose additional requirements on Community Corrections with respect to those annual reports, including, but not limited to, providing a statewide analysis of county spending.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

As of November 12, 2020, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

The Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation. However, AB 1007 would provide that no less than 95 percent of the funds allocated would be distributed through an accessible and transparent solicitation process to community-based organizations and public agencies or departments that are not law enforcement agencies or departments. The bill would further prohibit funds distributed through this process from being used for law enforcement activities or personnel.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

Recommendation for Legislative Action

To make JJCPA funding more stable and predictable, the Legislature should amend state law to increase the amount of guaranteed JJCPA funding the State provides to counties. If the Legislature decides to stabilize JJCPA funding, it should direct Community Corrections to evaluate the expenditure information counties submit and identify an appropriate amount of base funding. The Legislature should further direct Community Corrections to assess every five years the percentage of total JJCPA funds that growth funds represent to determine whether the base funding needs to be adjusted.

Description of Legislative Action

As of June 23, 2022, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: No Action Taken

As of June 23, 2022, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

Description of Legislative Action

As of May 12, 2021, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

As of November 12, 2020, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: No Action Taken

Description of Legislative Action

As of July 12, 2020, the Legislature has not taken action to address this specific recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

Recommendation #20 To: State and Community Corrections, Board of

To ensure that counties include accurate information in their comprehensive plans and year-end reports, Community Corrections should review the information counties submit to it and follow up with them to obtain missing information or to clarify information that seems incorrect.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From September 2023

BSCC will continuously review annual county plans and work with counties to follow up on missing information and clarification information. County reports will be posted on the BSCC's website after review by BSCC staff. BSCC staff will also review county data when compiling the year-end report to the Legislature in March of each year.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Consistent with its October 2022 response, Community Corrections again asserted that it has fully implemented our recommendation. However, Community Corrections did not provide any new documentation to substantiate the extent to which it is reviewing the information counties submit, including whether the information appears correct and whether the counties are overly reliant on unspecific expenditure categories.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2022

BSCC will continuously review annual county plans and work with counties to follow up on missing information and clarification information. County reports will be posted on the BSCC's website after review by BSCC staff. BSCC staff will also review county data when compiling the year-end report to the Legislature in March of each year.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Although Community Corrections asserts that it reviews annual county plans and works with counties to follow up on missing information and clarification information, it could not substantiate that its review fully addresses the concerns we raised in the audit. Specifically, as we state on page 34 in the report, counties did not always report information correctly and some counties were overly reliant on unspecific expenditure categories. Community Corrections uses a checklist to track the comprehensive plans and year-end reports that it receives from counties and, as part of that checklist, Community Corrections' staff check whether the counties responded to all the questions on the templates. However, Community Corrections could not substantiate the extent to which it is reviewing the counties' responses, including whether those response appear correct and whether the counties are overly reliant on unspecific expenditure categories.

1-Year Agency Response

BSCC is currently reviewing county annual plans and working with counties to follow up on missing information and clarification of information. County reports will be posted on the BSCC's website after review by BSCC staff. BSCC staff will also review county data when compiling the year-end report to the Legislature in March 2022.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

6-Month Agency Response

BSCC has followed up with counties on missing information and clarification of information. County reports has been posted on the BSCC's website after review by BSCC staff. BSCC staff will also review county data when compiling the year end report to the Legislature in March 2021.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Partially Implemented

In July 2020, we assessed the status of this recommendation as partially implemented because Community Corrections was able to demonstrate it followed a process for reviewing counties' comprehensive plans, but not for reviewing counties' year-end reports. We continue to assess the status as partially implemented based on Community Corrections' response that its staff will review counties' year-end reports when compiling the year end report to the Legislature in March 2021.

60-Day Agency Response

BSCC staff developed a review process and is currently reviewing and following up as needed with county plans on missing and clarifying information.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented

Community Corrections has implemented a process to track county submissions, and was able to demonstrate it followed its process for comprehensive plans that counties were recently required to submit. However, until Community Corrections can demonstrate it is performing similar reviews of year-end reports, we will report the status of this recommendation as partially implemented.

Recommendation #21 To: State and Community Corrections, Board of

To better promote effective local efforts related to the JJCPA, Community Corrections should include on its website the capability for stakeholders, counties, and other interested parties to review and easily compare the JJCPA information of multiple counties. Specifically, its website should allow users to be able to select a specific type of JJCPA-funded program and easily review information the counties submitted for all programs associated with that program type. Community Corrections should determine the cost of providing this additional service and, if necessary, request additional resources.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From September 2023

The BSCC has provided ongoing technical assistance to counties. Within existing resources, the BSCC will continue to conduct an analysis of the annual plans and expenditure reports.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Will Not Implement

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2022

The BSCC has provided ongoing technical assistance to counties. With existing resources, the BSCC will continue to conduct an analysis of the annual plans and expenditure reports.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Will Not Implement

Community Corrections did not provide its rationale for why it will not implement our recommendation. Despite Community Corrections indicating in its response to our audit that it lacked the resources necessary to implement our recommendation, we noted in our report starting on page 36 that Community Corrections had not calculated the cost of improving its website and therefore had not determined whether it would need additional resources to do so. We also stated on page 37 of our report that Community Corrections had the capability to develop a more robust presentation of JJCPA information because it presents (and continues to present) on its website other statewide information using the same software that we used to create our interactive graphics, which allow users to compare counties' programs. Because some counties we visited expressed that it would be helpful if Community Corrections improved the information it displays about the programs that other counties are funding with their JJCPA allocations, we stand by our recommendation that Community Corrections improve its website.

1-Year Agency Response

The BSCC is currently reviewing all county 2021-2022 annual plans and will review expenditures in October 2021. The annual plans will be posted on the BSCC's website after staff review. The BSCC has developed an online submission dashboard for counties to report their plans. The BSCC has provided technical assistance to counties. With existing resources, the BSCC will continue to conduct an analysis of the annual plans and expenditure reports. The BSCC is currently evaluating what additional information to include as part of the summary information on the BSCC's website.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

6-Month Agency Response

Within existing resources, the BSCC will conduct additional analysis as part of the next report to the Legislature (due March 2021) on what counties report about the programs they fund with YOBG-JJCPA funds.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

As an initial improvement, the BSCC has updated the website to provide easier access to JJCPA plans in a consolidated location. At this time, we are still in the process of determining the cost of this additional work on an ongoing basis.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: No Action Taken

Although Community Corrections indicates that it updated its website to provide easier access to consolidated plans, we found it provides information about JJCPA on its website in the same manner as it did during our audit. Specifically, we found Community Corrections continues to post on its website the individual reports that counties submit, but does not synthesize the information in those reports in a manner that is helpful to users. Thus, we determined that Community Corrections has not taken action to implement our recommendation.

All Recommendations in 2019-116

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.