The number of nights Canberra children spent in custody has declined by almost two-thirds since a damning Human Rights Commission review of the ACT youth justice system more than five years ago.
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The latest Productivity Commission Report on Government Services showed the number of nights juvenile offenders spent in custody in Canberra fell nine per cent in the year to July 2016 to 3030.
But since a 2011 report into the ACT's youth justice practices prompted a sweeping overview of the system, the number of nights in custody has fallen by 63 per cent.
A spokesman from the Community Services Directorate said the decline showed the 2012 Blueprint for Youth Justice in the ACT was achieving "continued and sustained progress".
"The ACT is a national leader in the provision of youth justice services and recently received a prestigious Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Award for its innovative approach to achieving a community where fewer children and young people are engaged in, or at risk of, offending," he said.
In July 2011, Human Rights Commissioner Helen Watchirs and Children and Young Person's Commissioner Alasdair Roy handed down their long-awaited report into the ACT's youth justice system, saying youth justice had been weakened by staff shortages and a lack of vision.
Later amendments to the Children and Young People Act 2008 saw strip searches and the use of force restricted in the youth justice sector.
On average, eight children were in detention at the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre each day in 2015-16. In 2011-12, there was an average of 20.
The centre operated at around 20 per cent capacity in 215-16. In 2011-12 it was almost 60 per cent full.
The change reflected a $5.5 million investment in the sector since 2012 and a move towards early intervention, prevention and diversion from detention for children aged 10 to 17.
It also echoed a fall in daily detention numbers nation-wide, with the rate of young people in youth justice centres across Australia decreasing from from 41.8 to 33.0 per 100,000 young people.
However young Indigenous people were still vastly over-represented in the ACT's youth justice system.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were 19 times more likely to be locked up or subject to a supervision order in the ACT than non-Indigenous youths, at a rate of 294 per 100,000 people aged 10-17.
However the ACT's Indigenous offenders accounted for highest proportion of successful community-based supervision orders in Australia. Eight in 10 successfully completed the order.
On any given day in 2014-15 (the most recent reported year), there were 67 people being supervised in the community at a cost of $127 per day. This was down from 92 people in 2011-12.
As of January 7, there were three children in custody that had been sentenced while another seven were on remand.
There were no deaths in custody or serious assaults however four people attempted self harm.
There were no escapes, either from Bimberi or in escorted custody.
On the flip side, falling detainee numbers has been blamed for the spiralling cost per inmate per day.
Spending on detention-based supervision for Canberra youth per day doubled in the ACT in the past two years, now costing $5978.62 per inmate, per day. In the same period, the average national spend was $1428.
ACT government spent $17.4 million on youth detention in 2015-16, with a further $3.2 million spent on community-based youth justice services.
"The cost of the facility per young person reflects the low and decreasing numbers of young people at Bimberi," the spokesman said.
