The Victorian government has spent more than $40 million on the Youth Crime Prevention Program since it was unveiled in 2016.
It is designed to provide targeted support for people aged 10 to 24 who have committed criminal offences or are at risk of offending for the first time.
But a report from the Victorian Auditor-General's Office published on Wednesday found 70 per cent of participants offended or reoffended within six months of starting the program.
The watchdog also exposed shortcomings in the program's design, including poor record-keeping and insufficient benchmarks to track performance.
"This means the program may be wasting resources and missing opportunities to prevent youth crime," the report said.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said the report proved the department had failed to do its job in the face of rising youth crime.
"This Labor government is wasting taxpayer money while seeing crime rates skyrocket in this state," she told reporters on Wednesday.
The program is delivered in partnership between the Department of Justice and Community Safety and community organisations in high-risk areas.
It connects young people with mentoring and case management services as well as '"pro-social" activities including sport and education.
By April, it had delivered individual case management or mentoring support to more than 2700 people aged 10 to 24.
In a 2026 business case cited in the report, the department described the program as a proven initiative that helps reduce offending and reoffending.
But the auditor-general said this claim relied on data from the COVID-19 lockdowns, when crime rates largely fell.
It also questioned whether the program was correctly identifying those at risk of first-time offending, citing varying practices between providers.
The watchdog made two recommendations, including the department introduce clearer targets and record keeping practices and apply lessons learned to the program and similar initiatives.
The department accepted both recommendations in full, committing to put them into practice by July 31, 2027 despite raising areas of disagreement.
The program is one of several ways the government has sought to clamp down on youth crime, including through stricter bail and sentencing laws.
Youth criminal offences in Victoria fell by six per cent in the year to March, according to the Crime Statistics Agency, the first downturn in four years, following a 40 per cent increase from 2022 to 2025.
The Victorian government has been contacted for comment.
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