Published on 30 Oct 2025

Evaluating the Youth Crime Prevention and Early Intervention Program - a collaboration between Victoria Police and Westjustice and co-led by Victoria Legal Aid and YouthNow

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Allen + Clarke was engaged to undertake an evaluation of the Youth Crime Prevention and Early Intervention Program (YCPEIP) in Melbourne's western suburbs. YCPEIP, founded by Victoria Police and Westjustice, and co-led by Victoria Legal Aid and YouthNow and supported by other community services, is a flexible and innovative model that aims to reduce the rate of offending and re-offending amongst children and young people in the Wyndham and Brimbank Police Service Areas. Our comprehensive mixed-methods evaluation examined the efficacy of the program in reducing youth offending through increased cautions, diversions, and early referrals to support services. The results revealed cost savings and social benefits, demonstrating a significant return on investment while connecting vulnerable young people with essential resources.

See the full report here
The program delivered estimated annual social cost savings of $8.6 million against program costs of $859,551 - a return of $10 for every dollar invested.

A Flexible and Innovative Model

The Youth Crime Prevention and Early Intervention Program (YCPEIP) is a flexible and innovative model that aims to reduce the rate of offending and re-offending amongst children and young people in the Wyndham and Brimbank Police Service Areas.

It aims to do this by increasing the rates of cautions, warnings and diversions for children and young people aged 10-24 years old in Brimbank, Wyndham and more recently Melton. Since its establishment in September 2021, the YCPEIP has sought to evolve to meet changing local needs. YCPEIP was founded by Victoria Police and Westjustice in the Wyndham and Brimbank PSAs, and is now co-led by VLA and YouthNow, and supported by other community services in the western suburbs. Community services supporting YCPEIP include the YSAS, TYJI, CMY and headspace. The project is also supported by the local Magistrates Court, the Children's Court Youth Diversion Program, and Court Services Victoria.

YCPEIP has been rolled out in two phases. The first phase, which commenced on program inception, relates to children and young people aged 10-17. The second phase was delayed until November 2023 (in Wyndham) and February 2024 (in Brimbank) and involved the extension of cautions and diversion pathways to eligible 18–24 year olds.

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Our Approach

After its initial implementation phase, the partners commissioned Allen + Clarke to evaluate the program's effectiveness, partnership approach, impact on youth reoffending, and cost-efficiency. This evaluation would provide evidence on whether the collaborative model was delivering its intended outcomes and provide recommendations for enhancement.

Our team brought specialised expertise in evaluating complex multi-disciplinary programs and assessing partnership effectiveness. We understood how to measure both tangible and intangible benefits across multiple stakeholders and community members.

We designed a comprehensive mixed-methods approach to capture both quantitative impacts and qualitative insights:

  • Document analysis - we reviewed program documents, MOUs, training materials and operational guidelines to understand the program's design and intended outcomes. 

  • Data analysis - we conducted pre-post analysis of police attendance data, Law Enforcement Assistance Program records and YouthNow referral information to measure concrete changes in practice. 

  • Stakeholder engagement - we completed 36 in-depth interviews with frontline police, prosecutors, supervisors, and partner organisations. 

  • Police surveys - we gathered insights from 120 pre-program and 63 post-program surveys to assess changes in police attitudes and practices. 

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What we found

Our evaluation revealed that YCPEIP was connecting young people with essential services while delivering significant cost benefits. YCPEIP reduces criminal justice processing costs, lessened the administrative burden on police, and reduced the need for pre-trial remand, court cases, and post-conviction penalties such as detention.

The economic analysis demonstrated a return on investment. We calculated a central estimate of reduced criminal system costs at approximately $4.4 million per year; five times greater than the $859,551 spent on the YCPEIP initiative. Additional social cost savings from reduced reoffending were estimated at $4.25 million. In total, the program generated an estimated annual social cost saving of $8.6 million across Brimbank and Wyndham.

To strengthen the program further, we developed 14 practical, actionable recommendations

The evaluation demonstrated that YCPEIP represents an effective approach to youth crime prevention that delivers benefits for young people while generating significant estimated cost savings for government and the broader community. Through this partnership model, Victoria Police and its partners are helping young people access support services that address underlying issues.

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