By Dr Mindy Sotiri
Executive Director of the Justice Reform Initiative
A funny thing happened in Federal Parliament recently. Politicians from across the aisle came together to agree on something – Australia’s youth justice system is failing children and communities, and needs an urgent overhaul.
That was the conclusion of a landmark Senate inquiry, carried out by a committee of Liberal, Labor, Greens and independent senators. After months of evidence, they found that community-based diversion, early intervention and prevention work better, cost less, and cut reoffending more effectively than locking children up.
None of this will surprise anyone who has spent time working in the sector. Evidence and experience from Australia and overseas clearly shows that prison does not work to rehabilitate, it doesn’t work to deter, and it doesn’t work to address the drivers of crime.
In Victoria, youth crime has become a hot-button issue ahead of the state election. Crimes which shock the community and make us feel less safe prompt politicians to respond with ‘tough on crime’ announcements.
There is no doubt we need to develop better responses to children who come into contact with the justice system, but we need these responses to be based on the evidence about what actually reduces the likelihood of reoffending. We should be pushing our politicians to be smart on crime, to resist politicised policy making, and to look at the decades of evidence that shows us that jailing is failing.
Some of the strongest evidence for what works comes from Melbourne’s western suburbs. Independent evaluation of youth crime prevention programs like Change It Up in Wyndham, the Youth Umbrella Project in Brimbank and Melton’s UTurn diversion program found they reduced the risk factors linked to reoffending and increased the protective factors that keep kids out of the system. Evaluation of the Les Twentyman Foundation’s Youth Support Service, delivered across Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong and Moonee Valley, found that 80 per cent of the children and young people it worked with had no further police contact during their time with the program. There are also First Nations-led programs including youth programs run by the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service that are delivering promising outcomes.
But while there are many excellent programs, strategies and services operating in Victoria, there is still a significant disparity between investment in imprisonment and investment in the community. Victoria spent more than $343 million in 2025-25 on imprisoning children, more than three times what it spent on community-based services for children and young people in the justice system.
We know that our youth justice system deepens inequality rather than addressing it: First Nations children and children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are disproportionately affected, funnelled into a justice system that causes harm and increases the likelihood of future offending.
It is clear that Australia’s current approach to youth justice is failing children, failing taxpayers and failing communities. The Senate committee’s report outlines multiple examples of evidence-based approaches including intensive bail support, early intervention, diversion, family support, community-led programs and First Nations place-based programs, all of which build pathways away from the justice system for the children who need it most. We can also learn from leading approaches to children and youth around the world, like the Diagrama model in Spain which has lowered recidivism rates to around 15%, compared to historical levels of around 85%.
None of this is a mystery – we can see the enormous value of this work happening now in Melbourne’s west, and in suburbs and towns across the country. What is missing is the political courage to back it at scale.
As Victoria heads towards a state election, the temptation for both major parties is to reach for tougher sentencing and bail laws as proof of action on crime. Yet a government serious about community safety would follow the evidence and fund community-based programs to match the size of the problem, not the size of the political moment.
Being smart on crime means following what works, not what polls well. Our children, and our communities, deserve better than another law and order contest.
