ABSTRACT
This chapter goes beyond the statistics to explore the reality of girls’ and women’s crime and some of the stories behind them. Biological, psychological, and sociological understandings are provided along with a holistic approach that draws on truths from all three schools of thought. At the heart of this chapter is the presentation of the latest facts on women who commit the most serious crimes—robbery, murder (divided into domestic homicide, mothers who kill their children) sex crimes, and a boxed reading on domestic terrorism. Property crimes such as larceny/theft and embezzlement are also explored in terms of recent trends. Much of the discussion in this chapter concerns juveniles who commit violent and property crimes, their arrests for status offenders and delinquency, and their participation and victimization in sex trafficking, As in all the chapters, gender issues are examined in the context of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
