Report 2019-116 Recommendation 8 Responses

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

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

All Recommendations in 2019-116

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.