The head of Canberra's Youth Justice Centre says the facility has experienced its first major drop in indigenous detention, praising recently introduced initiatives to prevent young people becoming trapped in a downward spiral of crime.
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The number of nights spent at Bimberi by all detainees, including indigenous youths, has dropped by 22 per cent over the past two years, falling from the long-term peak in the 2011-12 financial year.
Last financial year, the total number of days young people spent in the youth justice centre was 6525, falling from a total of 8347 in 2011-12. That percentage decline - which is likely skewed by the low numbers of detainees - is paralleled by falling numbers of young indigenous Canberrans being detained in Bimberi.
The number of times indigenous youths are being detained in the ACT has fallen by 45 per cent. Remand and committals of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people fell from 98 in 2011-12 to 53 last financial year.
The near halving has been hailed as a success by Children and Young People Minister Joy Burch and by Bimberi authorities. ACT Community Services Directorate youth services director Mark Collis said the drop in indigenous detention was the largest he had seen at Bimberi in his two years with the facility.
''This is the first time we've really had a significant move in this area, and I'm really pleased because last year we got together with all the major Aboriginal service providers and sat down and said 'what can we do about this?''' Mr Collis said. ''We came up with some really practical suggestions … and it seems to be really biting now.''
''That is fantastic, we were way over-represented, even by national benchmarks, in that area.''
The average population of Bimberi has also fallen by almost 20 per cent since 2011.
The achievements at Bimberi are being attributed to a strong focus on early intervention and diversionary programs, part of a new approach set out in the 2012 blueprint for youth justice introduced by the ACT government. Two initiatives are said to be behind the success - the after-hours bail support service and the Bendora Transition Unit.
The bail support service helps keep youths out of Bimberi when they are arrested, using partner organisations to provide alternatives to custody.
The transition unit is designed to prevent reoffending by giving youths support and rehabilitation aids as they exit Bimberi and move back into the community.
"We know that periods of detention are destabilising and disruptive to young people's schooling and social engagement,'' Ms Burch said.
''Our focus on early intervention and diversion is having proven results … '' she said.
Mr Collis said getting to children early was of important. ''Most of the young people in the youth justice system have been the product of trauma, abuse and neglect …'' he said.
''So if we're going to get upstream and prevent these young people from coming down to us in youth justice, the really great work that's happening out at Care and Protection is hopefully where we'll prevent that. What we do know is that once they float downstream to us, we're now really prepared to recover them and to divert them from further problems.''
