The Northern Territory government says its early intervention program and "boot camps" prove its efforts to reduce youth crime are "making a real difference".
It comes amid mounting condemnation of the Country Liberal Party's (CLP) punitive crime policies, which have contributed to the NT's record high imprisonment of mostly Aboriginal people.
Since coming to power, the CLP has lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 12 back to 10, toughened bail laws and reinstated the use of spit hoods in youth detention.
It has also passed new youth justice laws, which remove the principle of detention as a last resort and allow youth justice officers to use restraints and "reasonable force" on detainees.
Within a six-month period, 402 NT children — mostly Indigenous — were held in police watch houses.
In response to growing concerns from health and human rights groups, who warn these policies will likely worsen reoffending long-term, the NT government has repeatedly insisted it is also addressing the underlying social issues driving youth crime.
Its strategy involves running an early intervention program, as well as "boot camps" for people under 18 who are either on bail, remanded or serving a detention sentence.
One of these recent three-day boot camps involved a "team resilience day" at Litchfield National Park and skills training at a Palmerston barber shop.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the camps were "aligning young people with employment pathways".
"We're trying to get them into tastes of trade school, work experience … to show them there is a meaningful pathway ahead if you choose to take it," she said.
"Particularly, as we move into this second year [of government], the root causes become much more front and centre for us."
The government has also highlighted its new Circuit Breaker program, where teams of social workers in Darwin, Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek identify young people at risk of offending and establish relationships with their families and service providers.
A spokesperson from the NT's Department of Children and Families said the program was "making a real difference in the lives of young people and their families".
"Our role is to engage early, understand what's going on for them, and then work with them and their families to address the underlying issues," the spokesperson said.
Under the Circuit Breaker program, parents and primary carers are asked to sign non-binding family responsibility agreements, which assign responsibility for tasks like getting children to school.
The department said the program had so far supported 241 cases across the NT and established 137 family responsibility agreements.
However, youth lawyers and Aboriginal social workers have warned the government's approach does not address the underlying drivers of youth crime, such as poor education, neglect and unsafe housing.
Jenna McHugh, a youth lawyer with Territory Criminal Lawyers, said young offenders were currently missing out on targeted behaviour change programs and effective case management.
"A boot camp — throwing some ropes around or riding a horse — in no way is going to address youth crime," she said.
She also said the Circuit Breaker program was not designed to help children currently involved with the justice system.
"It's not a diversion program," she said.
"Diversion programs come in when kids have been charged with an offence or they've been picked up for an offence, but that's not what Circuit Breaker is."
The end of intensive case management
Earlier this year, the NT government stopped funding an intensive case management program known as Back on Track without offering a replacement.
Back on Track aimed to help young people re-engage with school or employment by strengthening their family ties and support networks.
Between 2019 and 2024, the program supported 342 high-risk young people across Darwin, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy and Katherine, costing about $95,000 per participant.
"Their case manager could get to know that young person and identify what that young person needed," Ms McHugh said.
"What ways can we help this young person to stay out of the criminal justice system? Do they need follow-up doctor's appointments? What medication are they taking?
"[There's] lots of different things that are no longer being addressed."
Although Back on Track showed signs of success, an external review of the program — obtained by the ABC via Freedom of Information laws — found its design was "overly complicated".
The report, prepared by Nous Group in 2024, found there were "significant delays" between a young person offending and entering the program, with some waiting more than three months to be placed with a provider.
This meant some young people were "unable to connect their youth diversion activities to the original offence", or in some cases, may have already reoffended in the intervening period.
The report also found existing youth diversion programs were not equipped to address severe offending behaviours or complex needs, such as drug addiction.
Damien Kunoth, who runs programs for disengaged young men near Alice Springs, said Indigenous-led initiatives were often more effective than those designed by public servants with no lived experience.
"They don't know what it's like to live with 20 people in one house, or to come from a Stolen Generation member," the Arrernte, Alyawarre and Pertame man said.
"They don't understand because they've never experienced it. You can't teach what you've never experienced."
Mr Kunoth said most children and teenagers wandering the streets at night typically had one thing in common.
"They cling together in a group and then they call it a gang," he said.
"But majority of the time it's the fact that there's nobody at home."
