An ACT Legislative Assembly committee has proposed the territory introduce reports – similar to Gladue reports in Canada – as an aid when sentencing Indigenous offenders.

The reports would act like a pre-sentence report to inform the court of any links between a defendant's offending and their Indigenous status with the aim of preventing further law breaking.

The committee also proposed strengthening the role of the Galambany Circle Sentencing Court and broaden the range of programs to which it can refer offenders.

The recommendations are a few of the 55 recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety in its Inquiry into Sentencing.

Other recommendations include the introduction of intensive community correction orders, strengthening rehab and taking into account the mental health of offenders.

The proposal to establish an intensive community corrections regime in the territory follows ACT government plans to end weekend detention as a punishment by 2016-17.

The report calls for the government to apply appropriate resources to the new regime and avoid issues experienced in other jurisdictions.

The inquiry also recommends the removal of the prosecution's right to veto the dismissal of criminal charges due to mental incapacity and strengthen judicial discretion on the issue.

ACT Bar Association president Shane Gill said the report made a large number of "sensible and important" recommendations.

"The approach of both the Attorney and the committee inherently recognises that the community benefits strongly from an approach that does not simply consign offenders to the scrap heap, but makes a concerted effort to seeing offenders make change and contribute positively to society over the long term," Mr Gill said.

Mr Gill also said the report acknowledged that the gross over-representation of the Indigenous community in jail could not continue.

"The proposal to introduce Gladue reports, to engage the Indigenous community, to specifically consider the Indigenous status of the offender and to create a statutory framework for the Galambany sentencing programme are good, practical improvements that can be made to the sentencing process."

Mr Gill said the legal profession would also have particular interest to the approach to mental health among offenders, and in the consideration of intensive community corrections orders as a mechanism to keep people out of jail and in a rigorous rehabilitation process.

"The territory is suffering from an increase in its jail population that is not explained by the crime rate and the potential introduction of intensive corrections orders is a good step toward reversing a trend that does little to serve the community," Mr Gill said.

"Given the prevalence of mental health issues among offenders, the proposal of the committee to expand and improve the ability of courts to deal with mentally ill offenders in a manner appropriate to their mental health problems is a matter that ought be given urgent consideration."