‘Proud of my community’: youth crime drops dramatically in Groote Eylandt

A decrease in youth crime on the Northern Territory’s Groote Eylandt can be put down to early intervention programs run by the community, elders say. Photograph: Stephanie Flack/AAP

There has been a dramatic drop in youth crime on a Northern Territory island, which elders attribute to justice reinvestment programs which have seen the community and young people working together.

Justice reinvestment programs redirect funding that would be spent on incarceration towards diversion and early intervention programs, to steer young people at risk away from ending up in youth detention.