The Victorian Liberals are pinning their election hopes on mandatory jail sentences for serial offenders even though they have been an "abject failure" in the United States, the Australian Lawyers Alliance says.
Opposition leader Matthew Guy hopes to "Make Victoria Safe Again" by forcing judges to give minimum sentences to violent criminals who are subsequently convicted of another violent offence.
Mr Guy says if his party is elected in 2018, the coalition will come with the biggest crime crackdown mandate possible.
Under the plan, minimum sentences would apply to murder, recklessly or intentionally causing serious injury, aggravated home invasion, carjacking or burglary, and one-punch manslaughter.
Police have backed the plan, saying they are sick of repeat offenders going through a revolving door in the Victorian courts, and being pushed back onto the streets to offend again.
The police union's new boss says criminal's attitudes have changed and they're more violent and more willing to take police on.
"We've said for some time that court outcomes need to reflect community expectations," Sergeant Wayne Gatt told reporters on Tuesday.
"Our members can't continue to wheel people into a revolving door before the courts, watching the same offenders released time and time again."
But the Australian Lawyers Alliance said the policy didn't work in the United States and wouldn't work here.
"One doesn't have to be Einstein to know that what Matthew Guy is proposing is logically flawed (and) fiscally irresponsible," criminal barrister and Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns told AAP on Tuesday.
"The evidence in Australia suggests that despite mandatory minimum jail terms we're still jailing more and more Australians and crime rates in Victoria for these crimes haven't decreased."
He also said minimum mandatory sentences had been "condemned by conservatives in the United States" as an "abject failure".
But the opposition says something has to be done about crime in Victoria, and the excuses for why the state can't be tougher on crime had to stop.
Mr Guy said there had been "some good examples" of minimum mandatory sentencing in trials in North America.
"It might not be perfect, there might be criticism, but at least we're doing something different - and that's what Victorians want," Mr Guy told reporters on Tuesday.
"Do we want more of the same? Or do we want to embark on a course that will make our state safe?"
But Mr Guy didn't say how he would pay for it - including the new prisons that would be needed.
Mr Guy said the full cost of the plan would be available closer to the November 2018 election, but "so be it" if new jails were needed to house an increasing prison population.
"I don't put a price on Victorian's safety," he said.
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