Despite isolated incidents of violence, the majority of offending by female youth in custody is relatively minor. Most of the offenses for which young women are serving time are administrative. Moreover, it appears that the primary rationale for sentencing these females to custody was protective in nature. The article claims that it is not only the paucity of non-custodial treatment alternatives that results in administrative-based incarceration, but also the resistance that many young women have towards any attempt to prevent them from returning to their street lives. In effect, the pull of addiction, pimps/boyfriends and peers is often so intense that many of the multi-problem young women refuse to remain in non-custodial treatment sites and programs. If custodial sentences are being used primarily for protection and, to a lesser extent, treatment, there is an immediate need for research in the development of effective community corrections alternatives. With some exceptions for the most extreme violent young women, incarceration is morally wrong and not a very effective use of already under-funded resources for young women. Tables, notes, references