Audit Says Office Of Juvenile Justice Not Properly Monitoring Contracts

Louisiana State Government is not doing a very good job of making sure the prevention and diversion programs for youthful offenders are working to help these young people to stay out of jail.

The latest audit of Louisiana's Office of Juvenile Justice were released today by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera's office.

The audit shows that the state's Office of Juvenile Justice isn't getting enough information from the contractors providing services to be able to assess the programs that are aimed at giving the children and teens options.  The programs are suppose to help children who have behavioral issues and those that are facing charges for misdemeanor crimes.

The audit shows that OJJ reduced their contracts by 57 percent, but some of the contract programs that they cut were the ones that were most effective.

OJJ Deputy Secretary Mary Livers says they plan to take the suggestions from auditor to make changes.