The Justice Reform Strategy's first progress report released on Friday canvasses options for alternative sentencing options not currently available in the ACT.

Home detention, including the use of electronic monitoring and curfews, has been floated as a key optional condition to any new community-based sentence.

The length of sentence, mandatory and optional conditions, and breaches of the new order have been explored as part of the first phase of the report.

An advisory group of government, academic and legal stakeholders, plus facilitated half-day workshops, informed the report.

Attorney-General Simon Corbell said the report would look to sentencing elsewhere in Australia as it considers a replacement for periodic detention, with a particular focus on rehabilitation.

"Periodic or weekend dentition has been shown to be an ineffective and outdated sentencing option, and the ACT is the last jurisdiction to maintain this option," he said.

"From our extensive consultation it's clear stakeholders share the view any new option for a sentence served in the community achieves not only the purpose of punishment but importantly offers rehabilitation opportunities.

"By analysing and discussing how our Australian counterparts have tackled community sentencing, useful lessons can be learned to guide an ACT model, and we can address issues such as the length of the sentence and eligibility of both offences and offenders".

The report raises conflicting opinions on the maximum length of a new sentence order and whether it should be prescribed in legislation or left to the courts to decide.

But the consensus among the advisory group was that a new sentence should be expressed as a term of imprisonment to ensure offenders were sentenced in terms of seriousness and to reduce the risk of courts imposing the sentence in situations where a less onerous sentence would have otherwise been imposed.

There was no agreement on whether some offences should be excluded, while the combination of sentences was not discussed in the report.

Any package of mandatory or optional conditions would need to be "robust and flexible enough to address the drivers of offending", as well as achievable, predictable, flexible and immediate to meet community expectations and the needs of the offender.

The report supports the potential of home detention however, raises concerns around the cost and human rights implications of 24-hour detention, with suggestions for a more limited curfew.

How these conditions would be tailored to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander offenders would also need to be considered.

Meanwhile, breaches of the new sentence would need to be resolved quickly but proportionately, according to the report. However, how to achieve this was less clear, aside from the creation of a breach process specific to the new sentence to "reduce recidivism as well as instances of breach".

The Justice Reform Strategy is a two-year project being undertaken by the Justice and Community Safety Directorate examine sentencing and related issues in the ACT and how improvements may be made to deliver the best outcomes for victims, offenders and the community and reduce reoffending.

The first phase of the strategy has been dubbed a launch pad for the next stage consultation.

Community submissions can be lodged before June 12 via jacslpp@act.gov.au.

To view the report, visit www.justice.act.gov.au.