In the 5 years of 1992-96, there has been a decrease in the rate of adult females charged by police per 10,000 adult female population. The rate decreased from 85.5 per 10,000 in 1992 to 66.0 in 1996. By offense category, property crime rates decreased from 43.2 to 31.0 per 10,000 adult female population, and the rates for other crimes decreased from 23.8 to 18.2. The data examined for the adult criminal court stage encompass 1994-95 to 1996-97. At the national level over this period, the rate of adult females processed through the court system per 10,000 adult female population has decreased slightly from 63.3 to 58.2. The trend by offense type shows a decrease in the rates of property crimes processed (from 27.3 to 24.4) and a slight decrease in the rate of violent crimes processed (from 10.9 to 10.3). At the national level, the number of female court dispositions decreased from 36,058 in 1994-95 to 34,383 in 1996-97. Regarding the various dispositions recorded between 1994-95 and 1996-97, the proportion of prison dispositions decreased slightly from 23 percent to 22 percent, while probation dispositions increased from 34 percent to 38 percent; and fine dispositions decreased from 37 percent to 34 percent. Restitution orders remained relatively stable at an average of 0.08 percent; other dispositions increased from 3 percent to 5 percent, and the proportion of unknown dispositions decreased from 4 percent to 1 percent. 3 figures and 13 footnotes