Despite the political hype in recent years over youth crime in the state, the president of the Children’s Court of Victoria says youths are less likely to commit crimes than they were a decade ago.

The children's courts have come a long way since they put kids in diversion courses - the kind that involved ropes courses - at the local police club.

The latest figures from the court show numbers of young criminals falling dramatically, with 2800 children found guilty of offences in the 2016-2017 financial year, down from more than 6000 in 2009-2010.

But although the facts do not support the 'youths-gone-wild-as-courts-go-soft' narrative, the head of the Victorian Children’s Court is worried about a small group of “high risk” violent repeat offenders whose crimes present a clear and present danger on our streets.

The number of children in detention has soared, from 141 youngsters behind bars in 2014 to 240 last year, with another 79 on remand.

Judge Chambers attributes this partly to the group of repeat offenders and a response to bail law changes.

There is another trend that tells a story of Victorian families on the edge; the number of child protection applications to the court, where children are at risk of abuse, sexual abuse or neglect, has surged to more than 18,000 from about 12,000 in 2011-2012.

With most of Victoria's children’s magistrates spending most of their time on child protection matters rather than hearing criminal cases, a youngster before the court is much more likely to be in danger themselves than to pose a risk to the community.

But Judge Chambers does not play down her worries about the “concerning” surge in detention numbers, attributed to a small group of teen criminals who offend repeatedly and violently or who commit the most dangerous types of vehicle crime.

“In Victoria, as in other jurisdictions, we are seeing increased rates of offending by a small cohort of youth, many of whom are committing serious violent offences," Judge Chambers said.

“We are seeing more violent offending, including violent offending by girls, that is rightly concerning to the community and to the court.

“It’s this small but high-risk group that is driving the increased rates of detention and remand numbers.

It is difficult to predict where the detention trend might go from here, Judge Chambers said, with two incidents of mass offending adding to the spike in figures in the 2016-2017 year.

“We dealt with the Malmsbury breakout and the Parkville riot and the offending that arose from that, so that may explain that."

Children’s courts treat incarceration as a last resort; locking kids up is more likely to make them worse than better, experience has shown.

But Judge Chambers says her magistrates are increasingly forced to jail young people to prevent harm in the broader community.

“It’s a very small group but it’s a high-risk group and that is what is driving the increased detention and it's partly a response to bail law changes and magistrates in the Children’s Court being concerned they pose a risk to the community.”

Judge Chambers said she believed the downward trend in offending was being driven by a more-sophisticated approach to diverting children away from the justice system.

Just a few years ago, the court president says, the system relied on an approach to diversion not much more sophisticated than the old police youth club.

Things are a bit more highly-developed now.

“A funded statewide youth diversion program commenced in January 2017,” Judge Chambers says.

“In the first year of its operation, a total of 1529 kids have had their charges dealt with through the diversion program.

“What we have found is that, even with kids who are offending for the first time, many are in need of greater supports in the community to address the issues that lead to their offending behaviour.

“A significant proportion are not in school and report having poor family relations.

"A large number have a history of being at serious risk of harm themselves through exposure to trauma or violence.

“Of concern, just under half report issues around mental health, anxiety and depression.

“For some, their behaviours result from an intellectual disability or autism.

“Around 12 per cent are homeless.”

The court president says the early signs for the new diversion program are promising.

"In the first year of its operation, successful completion rates have exceeded 70 per cent.”

Away from the headlines, child protection work is what occupies most of the court’s time, Judge Chambers says, and all too often young victims become young offenders.

“Since 2012 that work has grown by close to 50 per cent," she said.

“Last year the Children’s Court had over 18,000 applications where children in Victoria were said to be at risk.

“A total of 15 magistrates work exclusively in the Children’s Court.

“Of these two magistrates work almost exclusively in the Criminal Division and the remaining 13 have a focus on the child protection work in the Family Division.

“That’s an indication of the demand ratio for the court.”