Children sleeping at home have been woken and arrested in Alice Springs, according to lawyers dismayed at a potential government back down on the use of arrest as a last resort.

Key points: A royal commission found police were arresting children too frequently

A royal commission found police were arresting children too frequently The NT Government had planned to bring in laws that would only see children arrested as a last resort

The NT Government had planned to bring in laws that would only see children arrested as a last resort But the plan may be abandoned according to advice from Territory Families

The Northern Territory Government has revealed it is reconsidering its own proposal to strengthen the requirement that police only arrest young people as a last resort.

The royal commission sparked by revelations of abuse in the youth justice system found police were "increasingly" failing to comply with the principle.

But a plan to enshrine it in legislation may be abandoned, according to advice circulated by the Territory Families Department on the eve of a parliamentary scrutiny committee on Thursday.

The sudden change was "gravely concerning", North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency principal solicitor David Woodroffe said.

"These concerns of our organisation have been long-standing, well before the royal commission," he said.

"[Concerns about] children in schools arrested in handcuffs in front of students and teachers, [stories] that were all vividly told at the royal commission."

He said the use of arrest instead of summons was an ongoing issue NAAJA had taken up with the police commissioner.

"We have concerns in Alice Springs of children who were arrested while asleep in their house in accordance with their bail, hand-cuffed, taken to police vehicle to the watch house and questioned over matters that happened many months ago," he said.

Territory Families staff told the scrutiny committee there was uncertainty about how the change would work in practice for police in unfolding and potentially violent situations.

But Mr Woodroffe rejected that explanation.

"We all recognise that there are occasions when an arrest has to occur," he said.

"But there is in many instances no urgency, no positive reason for the immediate arrest of a child in those sort of circumstances."

The number of arrests of young people in the Northern Territory jumped from 423 in 2006-07 to 1,427 ten years later, according to the royal commission's final report.

'I need to think of a range of issues'

It also emerged at the hearing on Thursday that long-awaited laws that would raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 years were included in the first draft of the government's new amendments.

But the change was missing from the final version released to the public.

Lawyer Russell Goldflam said the provision had been "very strongly" supported by the justice sector during thorough government consultations.

"And it was a big surprise and an extremely unpleasant one when the bill was finally published to the world and these provisions had been deleted," he said.

Territory Families Minister Dale Wakefield did not directly answer questions about whether the change was in the bill's initial draft.

"I have seen several drafts of that bill, we know we have had significant discussions with stakeholders about it," she said.

"We are aware that the lawyers were very keen for that to happen but we as a department, as a Government, as a Minister I need to think of a range of issues.

"I need to make sure we have the service delivery and we need to have confidence we have the service delivery there before we make any changes to the law."

Despite the criticisms, other aspects of the Government's changes were welcomed as representing an improvement in the youth justice system, including the creation of youth-specific bail criteria and the removal of some barriers to diversion programs.

Legal groups were also supportive of proposals to restrict access to youth court matters to protect young people's identities and privacy, although this is opposed by others on transparency grounds.