Audit of the Bristol County Division of the Superior Court Department

This is a Massachusetts State Auditor performance audit of the Bristol County Division of the Superior Court Department, covering July 1, 2017 through December 31, 2018.

“This report details the audit objectives, scope, methodology, and conclusions for the audit period, July 1, 2017 through December 31, 2018.”

The audit was done to follow up on problems found in an earlier audit and see whether court management had corrected them.

“In this performance audit, we followed up on issues identified in our previous audit of BCSC (No. 2014-1119-3J) to determine what measures, if any, BCSC’s management has taken to address them.”

The court handles public money, evidence, and court records, so the audit matters because these items must be protected and properly tracked.

“During the prior audit, we examined BCSC activities related to the cash received, the safeguarding of evidence and case files in the Clerk of Courts’ Office, and the adequacy of BCSC’s internal control plan.”

If you live in or use the court system in Bristol County, this report gives some assurance that the court’s reviewed processes for cash, evidence, and case files were working properly during the audit period.

“Based on our audit, we have concluded that BCSC has established adequate controls and complied with applicable laws, regulations, policies, procedures, and other guidance in the areas reviewed.”

The auditor’s answer to the main audit question was yes: the court took corrective measures for the earlier issues reviewed.

“Did BCSC take corrective measures to address the issues identified in the Office of the State Auditor’s prior audit (No. 2014-1119-3J) regarding cash received, evidence, and files within the Clerk of Courts’ Office (the Clerk’s Office)?”

The report does not list new findings or recommendations, because the auditor did not find significant deficiencies in the reviewed areas.

“We did not identify any significant deficiencies in those areas.”

This audit is significant because it shows that previously reported weaknesses in cash handling, evidence protection, and case-file tracking had been addressed in the areas the auditor reviewed.

“The prior audit report stated that BCSC’s “internal controls over cash received, evidence in custody, and safeguarding of case files in the Clerk of Courts’ Office [needed] improvement.””

“Disposed” means a case was finished; the audit used that term when reviewing criminal cases with evidence held by the court.

“We selected a nonstatistical random sample of 10 out of 36 criminal cases with a status of “disposed” (meaning the case proceedings were completed) that had evidence held by the court during the audit period, as well as both of the murder cases with “disposed” status that had evidence held by the court during our audit period, to determine whether evidence in the Clerk’s Office was safeguarded.”