Justice spokesperson Greg Barnes says the solution to solving Victoria’s youth crisis isn’t by imprisoning minors.

He told 3AW Breakfast that young people usually found trouble within the prison system and simply locking them up wasn’t the answer.

“Too much reliance on youth detention increases crime,” Mr Barnes told Jimmy and Marko.

Click PLAY to hear the full interview with Greg Barnes on 3AW 

“People want to see more kids locked up, but the difficulty with doing that is all data tells us that once you get into that system, you get into anti-social groups and you don’t get strong support.”