Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes announced the impending change on Wednesday in a bid to slash recidivism by a "small number" of reoffenders who were driving an increase in serious youth crimes in Victoria.
The trial would help ensure young people charged with serious crimes followed their bail conditions, Ms Symes said.
Jaclyn Symes says bail compliance isn't optional and should be taken seriously. (James Ross/AAP PHOTOS)
If young people defied their bail conditions, electronic monitors would alert police, who would then be able to apply for their bail to be revoked.
The technology would be rolled out alongside more intensive bail supervision to keep young people in education, work and other programs, the attorney-general said.
"This trial will be an extra tool to ensure that bail conditions are followed and young people take the opportunity of bail as a chance to engage with school or a job, and get their lives back on track," Ms Symes said.
"Bail compliance is not optional and should be taken extremely seriously.Â
"If a person continues to abuse their bail conditions or commit further crime, it is our expectation that their bail is revoked."
The Police Association Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt welcomed the announcement, describing the move to trial electronic monitoring as sensible and pragmatic.
It reflected the gravity of youth crime as an issue, along with the trauma it created in the community, he said.
"When everything else has failed, this is a way of protecting recidivist offenders from themselves," Mr Gatt said.
"It is a positive alternative to jail."
The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service derided the change, saying Ms Symes ditched recommended reforms in favour of a surveillance project on children not even found guilty.
The move was "backwards and archaic", the service said, and the government had reneged on its promise to remove reverse onus provisions for children with the exception of those charged with homicide and terrorism offences.
Reverse onus provisions put the onus on offenders - rather than prosecutors - to prove why they should be granted bail.
"This decision is a betrayal of all children and young people whose experience of abuse and trauma has had undeniable consequences for their emotional development and affected their ability to respond appropriately, rendering them more likely to offend," the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service said in a statement.
"Decisions like this contributed to the continual over-policing and over-incarceration of Aboriginal children, stealing that future from them and decimating Aboriginal families and communities."
The legal service was informed about the changes to planned reforms on Tuesday night after five years consulting with the government, it said.
It questioned how Victoria could walk down the path of Treaty with a government "so willing to walk away from their commitments".
"We are devastated that we trusted the Allan Government and they have completely betrayed abused and traumatised children in the hope it will win them votes at the next election," legal service chief executive Nerita Wright said.
The attorney-general reiterated Victoria had one of the lowest rates of youth offending in Australia.
The government plans to introduce a youth justice bill, which will also raise Victoria's minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12, in mid-2024.
The minimum age of criminal responsibility in the state is then slated to be increased to 14 by 2027.
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Aboriginal Counselling Services 0410 539 905
