Damning report finds no evidence $40m youth program reduces offending

A damning report has found no evidence that a multi-million-dollar government program established to reduce youth crime in Victoria has led to a reduction in offending.

The Victorian Auditor-General Office's (VAGO) report tabled in state parliament this morning also found that about two thirds of young people engaged in the Youth Crime Prevention Program offended within six months of starting it.

Since 2016 the Victorian government has allocated about $40 million to organisations that provide mentoring and case management services to at-risk young people.

In that time the number of alleged youth offender incidents has climbed to a record level, from 17,115 in 2022 to 23,893 incidents last year.

A statistical analysis indicates that a small group of repeat offenders is driving the increase.

The report also found it was unclear if the program was reaching its intended recipients.

"At least half of program places go to young people who have offended or are alleged to have offended," it said.

"But this varies widely between community organisations [delivering the program], from 18 per cent to 92 per cent.

"We do not know if the remaining participants are 'at-risk' of offending because program criteria are broad and record-keeping is poor."

The VAGO report recommendations accepted by the justice department included the introduction of minimum participant data and record-keeping requirements to support participant eligibility decisions.

Crime has shaped up to be a major issue in Victoria's forthcoming election, and Opposition Leader Jess Wilson seized on the report's findings on Wednesday.

"We've had another auditor-general's report that demonstrates that this Labor government is wasting taxpayer while seeing crime rates skyrocket in this state," she said.

Crime Prevention Minister Paul Edbrooke said youth offending rates had been declining in recent times and that a Violence Reduction Unit was established in late 2025.

"VAGO confirms what we already know: the nature of youth offending is changing, which is why we've already given Victoria Police the powers they need to tackle serious and repeat offending," he said.

Andrew Bruun from Youth Support and Advocacy Service, which participates in the Youth Crime Prevention Program, said the organisation had seen promising results.

"For the clients we've currently got engaged in our program, 50 per cent of them have ceased their offending, they've got through their [community corrections] order," he told the ABC.

Mr Bruun said the report's finding that 30 per cent of participants do not offend could be viewed as an improvement in community safety if those people were previously involved in serious, high-volume offending.

He also said investment in this kind of program was a better option than paying to keep young people in custody.

"If you look at the numbers, [it costs] $7,304 per day to keep a young person in custody," Mr Bruun said.

"Our program cost $17,000 to put a young person through about a year of intensive support to get a result."

He said the topic had become a political football in recent years.

"There's a lot of people who don't understand how damn disadvantaged some of these kids are," Mr Bruun said.

The Crime Statistics Agency is scheduled to release data for the 2025-26 financial year on Thursday.