Results suggested that an adequate understanding of female criminality must consider the impact of neighborhood, peer, and addiction factors that affect both male and female participation in criminal violence. In addition, it appears that different configurations of these factors contribute to the initiation of violent offending depending on that age of onset. Early initiation into violent crime was accompanied by participation in a wide variety of other offending behaviors and deviant lifestyles. In contrast, females who experienced a later onset of violent offending did so within the context of a criminal career that, up to the point of drug abuse, was more specialized and focused on typically nonviolent, gender-congruent activities such as prostitution and shoplifting. Tables, appended table, note, and 94 references (Author abstract modified)