Audit of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association (November 17, 2025)

This is a State Auditor review of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, the group that provides administrative and technology support to the state’s 11 district attorneys’ offices.

“The Massachusetts District Attorney Association (MDAA) was established under Section 20D of Chapter 12 of the Massachusetts General Laws to provide administrative and technological support services1 to each of the 11 District Attorneys’ (DA’s) Offices in the Commonwealth.”

Auditors checked whether MDAA was properly helping district attorneys’ offices with technology and standard procedures, and whether it met its annual reporting duties on child abuse and neglect cases.

“The purpose of our audit was to determine the following:”

Bad or missing data can make it harder for state leaders to understand child abuse and neglect issues and decide what laws, funding, or policies are needed.

“Because the recipients of the Report on the Status of Child Abuse and Neglect Cases may use the information for research, debate, deliberations, and proposed legislation, inaccuracies or missing information in the report may hinder legislators’ and other policy makers’ efforts to sufficiently address child abuse and neglect issues.”

For residents, this affects whether prosecutors have reliable technology and whether lawmakers get trustworthy information about serious child abuse and neglect cases.

“According to MDAA’s internal control plan, its mission is to “promote public safety, the fair and effective administration of justice, the education of prosecutors and the safeguarding of the rights of victims.””

MDAA was only partly meeting expectations: its technology support was limited by an old system, and its required reporting was not fully accurate or complete.

“In addition to the conclusions we reached regarding our audit objectives, we also identified issues not specifically addressed by our objectives.”

The auditor recommended that MDAA seek money for a new case management system and improve how it checks child abuse and neglect reports before sending them out.

“MDAA should obtain funding to procure a new CMS that meets the needs of all 11 DA offices with regards to operations, tracking, and reporting.”

This is significant because the report points to statewide weaknesses in justice-system data, especially for child welfare and juvenile justice decisions.

“The consensus response is summarized as being that the information in the reports may be used for debate, deliberation, and drafting proposed legislation.”

CMS means case management system: the software prosecutors use to track court events and information about cases, victims, and witnesses.

“In 2001, MDAA coordinated the installation of a case management system (CMS) that DAs use to track court events and maintain information regarding ongoing or completed cases, victims, and witnesses.”