A youth development worker is giving a thumbs down to National's new policy to deal with youth crime.

The party is promising to set up Young Offender Military Academies for 15 to 17-year-olds, if it's elected next year.

It also wants to put electric monitoring devices on children as young as 10-years-old.

Aaron Hendry told Kate Hawkesby evidence shows they're ineffective, as they don't address the root cause of why young people are involved in crime in the first place.

He says there are groups of young people living in extreme poverty and homelessness, and struggling to make positive change in their lives.

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