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. 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.”
According to MDAA’s website, it accomplishes its mission in the following way:
By managing statewide business technology services and administering grants in the area of Violence Against Women and Motor Vehicle Crimes. MDAA also produces publications for prosecutors and victim-witness advocates, hosts dozens of prosecutor trainings annually, and provides information on budgetary, criminal justice, and public safety issues to the executive and legislative branches.
MDAA, located at 99 Summer Street in Boston, has nine full-time employees. One of these full-time employees is an executive director, who is appointed by the 11 district attorneys (DAs). MDAA’s organizational make-up also includes its president, who comes from and is annually elected by a majority vote of the group of 11 DAs. The president presides over MDAA meetings.
MDAA received appropriations of $5,421,797 in fiscal year 2022, $10,974,317 in fiscal year 2023,1F and $8,339,013 in fiscal year 2024.
- The fiscal year 2022 figure includes $1,249,950, which MDAA is required to disburse to the 11 DAs as stipulated by state budget line items 0340-0203: Drug Diversion and Drug Prevention Education Programming and 0340-2117: Assistant [DA] Retention.
- Similarly, the fiscal year 2023 figure includes $5,499,950 for disbursement, plus an additional $5,000,000 for the annual salary increase for all assistant DAs as stipulated by state budget line item 0340-6653: Assistant [DA] Salary Expansion.
- The fiscal year 2024 figure includes $2,499,950 for only budget line items 0340-0203 and 0340-2117.
Technical Support
According to Section 20D of Chapter 12 of the General Laws, MDAA provides technical assistance, which includes coordinating and standardizing reporting procedures for all 11 DA offices. MDAA also provides emergency hardware support during times of computer hardware failure.
MDAA information technology (IT) staff members monitor an average of 3,100 devices2 on MDAA’s wide area network (WAN)3 through monthly computer-generated security reports. These staff members also maintain devices connected to the WAN by updating general software, installing antivirus software, and patching network security risks.
MDAA spent a total of $4,974,171 during the audit period to support the WAN. These expenses included IT services such as internet connectivity, computer hardware repairs and purchases, virtual private network services, virtual emulation software, and other technological needs for the 11 DA offices.
Case Management System
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. By 2005, all 11 DAs were using the CMS.
During the course of our audit work, MDAA informed us that data reporting requirements have increased since the implementation of the CMS, but the CMS’s framework was unable to accommodate standardization updates across all DA offices. This included an inability to track and compile various types of data. In 2014 and 2015, MDAA received $500,000 in funding for the evaluation and preparation of a new CMS, and subsequently hired a vendor that performed consulting and accounting services4F to complete the evaluation in December 2015.
In February 2016, MDAA submitted a bond request for a CMS with the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS). However, EOTSS indicated that MDAA was not yet ready for bond funding. In February 2021, MDAA reengaged with the same consulting vendor hired in 2015 to perform an updated evaluation of the DAs’ business needs and market research. The consulting vendor then compiled a report estimating that a new CMS installed throughout the 11 DA offices would cost between $3.6 and $7.2 million.
In fiscal year 2022, during the annual budget process, the DAs highlighted in their presentation to the Legislature the need for a new CMS and stated that they would soon be seeking bond funding to purchase a new CMS.
In April 2024, MDAA officials met with EOTSS officials advocating for assistance in the bond solicitation process. EOTSS informed MDAA that there were no fiscal year 2025 bond funds available, nor were there staff members who could help MDAA in its bond solicitation process. EOTTS then provided $100,000 in funds for MDAA to hire an IT research vendor that had experience working with another state government entity, the Massachusetts Justice Reinvestment Policy Oversight Board, and which was familiar with CMSs. The IT research vendor met and engaged with the DAs, consolidating their needs, reviewing the current CMS, and compiling a list of vendors that could supply a new CMS that could meet all the needs of the DAs. The IT research vendor then developed a roadmap of the selection and implementation of a new CMS. This roadmap included an estimated cost of $300,000 for the IT research vendor to assist MDAA in the completion and submission of a new bond request to EOTSS intended for the potential purchase of a new CMS in fiscal year 2027. MDAA proceeded to request an additional $300,000 in its fiscal year 2026 budget to procure these services; however, MDAA only received $150,000 in its final budget.
MDAA expended $661,493 on software and database maintenance of its current CMS during the audit period, and $1.7 million from fiscal year 2021 through fiscal year 2025.
Juvenile Justice Policy and Data Board
In April 2018, the Governor signed into law Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2018. Section 89(b) of Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2018 created the Juvenile Justice Policy and Data (JJPAD) Board. The JJPAD Board is charged with collecting data (e.g., age, gender, racial or ethnic identity, and the type of corresponding crime) from criminal justice agencies that have contact with juveniles involved in the criminal justice system. The legislation states,
The [JJPAD] board shall analyze and make a recommendation on the feasibility of the child advocate creating and annually updating an instrument to record aggregate statistical data for every contact a juvenile has with:(i) criminal justice agencies; (ii) any contractor, vendor or service-provider working with said agencies; and (iii) any alternative lock-up programs. The data to be recorded on the instrument shall include, without limitation, age, gender, racial or ethnic category and type of crime.
In June 2019, the JJPAD Board issued a report titled Improving Access to Massachusetts Juvenile Justice System Data. According to this report, “data on district attorney decisions [regarding] prosecutions and diversions” was missing. Regarding this missing data, the report also stated,
There is variation from DA office to DA office with regards to what data is currently tracked and how data categories are defined. . . . Other important data elements are only tracked by a proportion of DA offices. . . . The database used by the District Attorneys . . . is several decades old and not currently capable of tracking all of the data requested by the Legislature. Some offices currently collect additional data using Excel spreadsheets. Although technically feasible, this system is inefficient, costly with regards to staff time, and can lead to data quality/reliability challenges.
In March 2022, JJPAD issued an update to its 2019 Improving Access to Massachusetts Juvenile Justice System Data report. The March 2022 updated report stated,
There is variation from DA office to DA office with regards to what data is currently tracked, how it is tracked, and how data categories are defined. The current data management system used by District Attorneys’ Offices, [CMS], is several decades old and not currently capable of tracking all of the data requested by the Legislature.
The March 2022 updated report also stated that, with sufficient data, the JJPAD Board would be able to determine the following questions: “How often do DAs offer diversion? Are there differences in the use of diversion by race/ethnicity, or from DA office to DA office?”
Annual Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Requirements
According to MDAA’s enabling legislation, Section 20D of Chapter 12 of the General Laws, MDAA must file an annual report regarding the status of child abuse and neglect cases each year to the clerks of the Senate and the House; the Senate and the House Committees on Ways and Means; the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities; the Joint Committee on the Judiciary; the Office of the Child Advocate; and the Governor.
MDAA provides a template to the 11 DA offices each year, requesting the status of child abuse and neglect cases. MDAA then combines the information, totaling numerical amounts from each DA, and summarizes the information into a Report on the Status of Child Abuse and Neglect Cases. MDAA then submits the report to the required recipients.
| Date published: | November 17, 2025 |
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