Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton and Premier Daniel Andrews have flagged their concerns over youth crime. Credit:Justin McManus "We're hearing it's easier for them to deal drugs than to deal with the bureaucracy of Centrelink," Mr Ashton said. "For them it's easier to steal than to work. "The motivation to stay in education isn't very strong." Employment opportunities were critical for reducing re-offending, Mr Ashton said.

"What is the point of dreaming of a good job when you can't even get a job at the local supermarket," he said. Mr Ashton is also concerned with the type of crimes young offenders committing. "We're seeing in Victoria young people getting more involved with serious crime more early," he said. "Over the last 12 months we've made more arrests than at any previous time in the organisation's history."

Mr Ashton stressed young people from certain groups were feeling locked out and not accepted by their own community. "They don't feel like they are a part of our broader society; they don't feel like they are welcomed to participate in it. Premier Daniel Andrews said that incarcerating youth offenders would create criminals for a lifetime. "There are some efforts that we've been proud to lead, to give young first time offenders the chance to turn their lives around ... we know that in many cases an incarceration approach is an apprenticeship for a life of crime," he said. Mr Andrews stressed the importance of communicating with disengaged youth in order to help break the cycle of recidivism.

While the number of young offenders is decreasing in Victoria, the nature of the crimes are becoming increasingly violent, including thefts and assaults. Youth advocate Natasha Anderson said young people weren't being taught the necessary skills to successfully survive in the adult world. "I'm lucky I had the support of my foster family … there are young people who don't and they aren't taught in schools how to pay tax, how to rent a home or get a job," she said. "There's a misunderstanding that young people don't want to work, they need to be taught how to secure employment, and have support." Mr Andrews said his government will continue to invest into TAFE and other education institutions.

"One measure of whether we have the settings right, one measure of whether we are a strong state is that we can hopefully one day say with pride that every young person can get the skills they need for the jobs they want," he said. "The TAFE system on its knees, apprenticeship numbers in decline, that's no way to provide that skills base." The mental health of recidivist offenders was a prominent issue raised during the summit. Criminology Professor Mark Halsey said youths from marginalised backgrounds were often attracted to this subversive lifestyle for a sense of belonging and identity, after years of neglect and abuse. "It's internalised hurt, confusion, shame, [and] alienation being manifested as externalised violence and mayhem on the streets," he said.

Hayley Troemel-Wilson from the Salvation Army said offenders have been taught to associate needing help or expressing themselves with weakness, "resulting in the repression of the very thing that makes us human". Loading She identified the corrosive affects of abuse or neglect during the formative years as a cause for creating youths who constantly re-offend. "How do we expect them to value the life of another human being, when they've never learned to value their own," she said.