Northern Territory's Chief Minister-elect Lia Finocchiaro says tougher penalties for people convicted of crimes are needed.

It comes as Ms Finocchiaro, whose CLP won a landslide victory over Labor on the weekend, announced she would also take on the police portfolio.

During the eletction campaign, the new Chief Minister advocated a series of harsher penalties for offenders. These include vowing to reduce the age of criminal responsibility to 10 - four years lower than recommended by world's best practice and leading experts - and to introduce "Declan's Law", which will mean offenders categorised as violent are automatically remanded to jail with a presumption against bail.

20-year-old Declan Laverty was fatally stabbed while working at a Darwin liquor store last year and the CLP says the bail amendment bearing his name is part of their plan to "reduce crime through early intervention, addressing the root causes and real consequences for repeat and serious offenders."

In response to a reporter asking if this pre-election rhetoric would continue in the face of Indigenous legal groups arguing that locking more children up would only lead to career criminals and no reduction in crime, Ms Finocchiaro said it is "important to hold people accountable for the crimes they're committing," but to also put them on a "better path going forward".

Experts from across the country - including peak legal, Indigenous, and medical bodies - have condemned calls to revert the age of criminal responsibility to 10.

Ms Finocchiaro said it was something her government would enact immediately.

"That's why we're lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10 so that young people can be held accountable and that appropriate consequences for their age are delivered, such as boot camps," Ms Finocchiaro told reporters.

In the NT, Indigenous adults are incarcerated at a rate of 3,029.2 per 100,000 people — the second highest rate in the country behind WA and more than 17 times the rate of incarceration for non-Indigenous Territorians.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people aged 14-17 are incarcerated at a higher rate in the NT than anywhere else in the country.

"This is important work that needs to be done and there do need to be more diversion options for our courts," Ms Finocchiaro said.

"But importantly it's not just about dealing with young people or offenders once they're already committing crimes, this is about making sure we give kids every opportunity in life to succeed. That's why our focus on getting kids to school is a very important part of our plan to reduce crime."

Before the election, the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) said governments needed to prioritise diversionary options in order to reduce the NT's reliance on prisons.

"Without increased investment in tackling disadvantage, poor housing, and health issues that impact our communities, Aboriginal people will bear the brunt of law-and-order policies that overlook the root causes of offending," NAAJA Principal Legal Officer Jared Sharp said.

Justice Reform Initiative executive director Mindy Sotiri said the proposed measures by the new NT government would only put more people in prison, only entrenching inequality, and disadvantage.

Furthermore, it would make the community less safe in the future due to reoffending.

"The solutions to reducing crime are not found in legislative reforms like restricting bail but are in the community. It takes real investment and hard work at the grassroots level with individuals, families, and communities to address the drivers of crime," Dr Sotiri said.

"The evidence shows that so-called 'tough on crime' measures like mandatory sentencing do nothing to address the root causes of crime and will in fact increase the likelihood of further offending, making communities less safe."

Almost 31 per cent of the NT is Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait islander - the biggest percentage of any jurisdiction in the country. While severa Indigenous Labor and Independent MPs retained their seats, as of Monday, no Indigenous CLP candidate had been elected.