The audit, conducted by the Victorian Auditor‑General’s Office (VAGO), examined the Department of Justice‑run program that has handed out more than $40 million to community groups since 2016, and concluded that it has not meaningfully lowered criminal behaviour among young people.
According to the report, the department overstated the scheme as a “proven, evidence‑based” intervention, yet it reaches only about 2 percent of the 26,977 alleged youth offenders recorded by Victoria Police between 2022 and 2025.
The program funds organisations that provide mentoring, case‑management, sport, education and employment activities intended to address the underlying causes of offending. Matching program participants with police records showed that 70 percent of the 258 young people enrolled reoffended in the first six months after joining.
A handful of providers reported lower reoffending rates – 42 percent in Brimbank and 36 percent in Hume – but auditors warned the sample sizes were too small to draw firm conclusions.
Costs per participant varied dramatically, from $400 for enrolments through Melton City Council to more than $24,000 for those managed by Anglicare Victoria, yet the audit found no clear link between spending levels and offending outcomes.
Frontline workers interviewed by auditors said they are confronting increasingly complex cases, including the online glorification of machetes and organised‑crime gangs recruiting teenagers via social media.
The report also criticised the department’s method of measuring success, noting it counted any reoffending rate below 100 percent as a reduction, effectively assuming every participant would reoffend without the program.
The findings arrive ahead of the state’s latest crime statistics release and two months before the November 28 election, where youth crime is a prominent issue. Premier Ben Carroll has responded by announcing $23 million in new grants for sports programmes, homework clubs and other interventions, while the Labor Party has pledged to give police broader powers to conduct random searches in public places.