THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

9

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING A financial and management audit of the oFFICE OF youth SERVICES, including purchase of services and any contract or agreement entered into by the office of youth services and the hawaii youth correctional facility.

WHEREAS, the vision of the Office of Youth Services is to create a safe, healthy, and nurturing community that values youth as productive and contributing members and provides opportunities for actualization of their highest potential; and

WHEREAS, the mission of the Office of Youth Services is to develop and enhance an effective continuum of services for Hawaii's at-risk youth; and

WHEREAS, a recent report detailing systemic problems ranging from overcrowding and the lack of adequate medical and mental health care, to the policies of discipline and isolation and guard brutality and rape of wards at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, has spurred the community to form the Hawaii Juvenile Justice Project; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Juvenile Justice Project, a statewide network of community organizations, churches, advocates, service providers, and government groups have joined together to assist and support the State with implementing plans to rectify these abuses; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Juvenile Justice Project has been working to gather information about pre-adjudicated juveniles and adjudicated juvenile offenders; and

WHEREAS, the situation is urgent and the requested information should be forthcoming in a timely manner; and

WHEREAS, this information is crucial to rectifying the abuses at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility and improving and enhancing services to pre-adjudicated and adjudicated offenders; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, that the Auditor is requested to conduct a financial and management audit of the Office of Youth Services, including but not limited to purchase of services and any contract or agreement entered into by the Office of Youth Services affecting that office, including the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to include the following in its audit:

(1) Whether the Office of Youth Services and its staff are fulfilling the mission with regard to pre-adjudicated juveniles and adjudicated juvenile offenders and the duties as set forth in chapter 352, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(2) Actions taken to remedy the abuses and violations discovered and reported to the Governor by the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii in 2003 and those abuses and violations discovered thereafter in response to the report;

(3) Office of Youth Services plans for appropriate service delivery to pre-adjudicated juveniles and adjudicated juvenile offenders with a timeline for implementations;

(4) A description of the continuum of care provided to pre-adjudicated juveniles and adjudicated juvenile offenders for the last three years;

(5) The number of pre-adjudicated juveniles and adjudicated juvenile offenders who came under the auspices of the Office of Youth Services for the last three years;

(6) A review of the 1990 recommendations by the Youth Corrections Program and the implementation of those recommendations;

(7) An itemized accounting of the funds spent incarcerating juvenile offenders and the number of juveniles incarcerated over the last three years;

(8) An accounting of the funds spent for alternatives to incarceration for pre-adjudicated juveniles and adjudicated juvenile offenders over the last three years;

(9) A description of where pre-adjudicated juveniles and adjudicated juvenile offenders are sent; and

(10) Any other matters that the Auditor deems relevant to develop and enhance an effective continuum of services for Hawaii's at-risk youth; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2006; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor, the Hawaii Youth Services Network, the Steering Committee of the Hawaii Juvenile Justice Project, the Director of Human Services, and the Executive Director of the Office of Youth Services.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Audit; Youth Services