The cost of mentoring young offenders as part of the Government's military-style academies could go as high as $100,000 per teenager, new documents show.

The Oranga Tamariki-run pilot - involving 10 hand-picked young offenders between the ages of 14-18 - will begin at the end of the month and continue for one year.

Billy Graham Youth Foundation CEO David Graham says this program could get ahead of the youth crime problem - if it's done well.

"What we need to be making sure of is that the young people who we're talking about, these young men between 14-18 years of age, that they are choosing good mentors.

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