Climbing numbers of Indigenous people in custody have left dismayed service providers and governments baffled when it comes to explaining and reversing the trend.

A look at recent figures makes the problem appear insurmountable.

In Canberra, home to more than 6,000 Indigenous people, the rate of Aboriginal prisoners grew 46 per cent to 2,070 per 100,000 people between 2014 and 2016.

Nationally, Aboriginal imprisonment rates are about 12 times those of the rest of the Australian population.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth are 24 times more likely to be incarcerated than other Australian young people.

While Indigenous people make up 3 per cent of Australia's population, they form 27 per cent of its prison population.

The speed at which these figures have risen in the ACT, and the lack of progress on so many measures in Australia's Closing the Gap effort, show governments are lost when it comes to breaking the cycle of disadvantage and incarceration in Aboriginal communities.

Australia needs to rapidly focus its thinking about the subject, and a good place to start is considering the causes of offending among Indigenous people.

The problem brings a set of social and economic questions to consider. A day in a Magistrates Court will show how much family dysfunction, social disadvantage and isolation from the mainstream community combine to fuel offending.

The relationship between disadvantage and crime is long-established. Any serious attempt to cut Indigenous incarceration needs to begin with this.

Canberra could lead a national rethink about the problem as it embarks on its Yarrabi Bamirr trial to reduce the number of Aboriginal people in courts and jail announced on Wednesday.

The nation will watch the city as it begins its trial, the first in the ACT based on the idea of justice reinvestment, where resources are directed to reduce causes of crime.

If the results of a similar program in the outback NSW town Bourke show anything, Yarrabi Bamirr could reset how governments understand the relationship between disadvantage and offending.

A small, outback town plagued by crime, Bourke has become a pioneer in trialling 'justice reinvestment'.

So far, an initiative teaching people how to drive has coincided with a drop in the number of those jailed for driving offences, now the lowest in 10 years.

Last year the number of domestic violence assaults involving alcohol also fell as police, inspired by the trial, increased their visits to offenders and perpetrators by partnering with substance abuse counsellors.

Bourke has shown that to work, such programs need to be formed with the community and tailored to respond to its unique needs.

Canberra will need to adopt the same partnership between the services sector and the community, and the same cross-agency cooperation, that has been the bedrock of Bourke's early success.

The rest of the country needs to bring an open mind.