The Youth Crime Prevention Program

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Program description

The YCPP seeks to prevent youth offending with a flexible range of support services including pro-social activities and intensive case management for young people aged 10-24 identified as being at risk of involvement, or who have previously been involved with, the justice system.

The YCPP is delivered through a place-based approach, bringing together community sector stakeholders and government to understand and respond to local factors impacting youth offending. The program is delivered in areas of Victoria with higher rates of youth offending, with YCPP services in each location delivered by a lead agency in partnership with a consortia of community organisations and government agencies, including the Departments of Families, Fairness and Housing the Department of Education, and Victoria Police.

Between 2016-2023 more than 1,800 young people have received intensive one-on-one support, and more than 3,000 young people have participated in pro-social activities to build protective factors against offending, through the YCPP. Partnerships funded through the YCPP have made an important contribution to addressing risk factors for offending behaviour and recidivism among young people in contact with the criminal justice system. An overview of risk and protective factors is available on the crime prevention website.

Program outcomes

The YCPP aims to:

• Successfully engage young people to achieve their goals through tailored supports that meet their individual needs
• Build evidence-based protective factors and reduce risk factors to reduce young people’s incidence of offending, recidivism, and severity of offending
• Build and maintain local partnerships between organisations and agencies to improve understanding of and responsiveness to the needs of young people engaged with the justice system, including through Local Site Executive Committees.

Reviewing and enhancing the YCPP

In 2023, Government will work with providers to undertake a review of the YCPP and develop options for program enhancements to more fully integrate the Program with the Better, Connected Care model and to align with youth-focused reforms such as raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14. The review will build on the Program evaluation published in 2022 and will inform service delivery and funding beyond 30 June 2024.

Providers will need to continue to report on activities and participant outcomes to meet requirements for funding, including reporting under the government’s Early Intervention Investment Framework (External link).

Some enhancements to data collection are required under this Framework and to support the program review process, including data for specific cohort groups. The department will work with providers to identify existing data collection processes and how these can be enhanced.

Participant eligibility

The YCPP supports young people between 10-24 years who have a demonstrated risk of becoming involved or who have been involved with the criminal justice system. Services can work with young people across the full age range or target a particular grouping based on local need. The YCPP maintains the flexibility to support young people in the context of their family to ensure outcomes are achieved and sustained. This means that a portion of Program funds can be used to address factors within the family that can support improved outcomes for the young person.

Given the YCPP’s place-based approach it is important that young participants have or maintain a genuine connection to the local government area. This could include living in the municipality, having parents or relatives in the area who they stay with, or attending school or other services in the area.

Program targets

The department will negotiate an achievable target of young people to be engaged and supported through each Program service as part of the funding agreement. Where services provide intensive case managed support or coaching and mentoring support, specific targets for the number of young people completing a planned exit from the Program will be required.

Funding use

The Department of Justice and Community Safety (the Department) encourages a flexible approach to the use of funds that emphasises the achievement of outcomes. A detailed annual statement of income and expenditure will still be required to demonstrate an appropriate use of public funds.

Costs that will not be covered by the grant include:

• activities that are not directly associated with the achievement of expected program outcomes
• activities that duplicate existing government programs in the local area
• evaluation related expenses*
• administration costs that are not directly associated with the delivery of the YCPP service/activity
• interstate or overseas travel
• subscriptions or other recurrent expenses
• activities that cannot be completed by 30 June 2024.

The Department reserves the right to not accept costs that aren’t demonstrably related to the delivery of agreed services or activity, or are considered unreasonable such as significant overheads or other administrative costs that are not directly related to the delivery of agreed YCPP services. If you have any concerns regarding the eligibility of certain costs to be incurred against the grant, please contact your Department representative to discuss before committing any funds to that purpose.