Research shows that one in three teens admits having committed crimes, and one in four teens has taken drugs. Females tend to grow out of offending much more quickly than males. Women compose 17 percent of all offenders, and they are 12 percent of offenders on probation. Women compose 5 percent of the inmate population, with the number of women in prison doubling from 1993 to 1998. More women are coming before courts due to more apprehensions and prosecutions of women; a higher proportion of women are receiving custodial sentences, and the trend is for the average custodial sentence to be longer. There is a higher proportion of drug offenders among women. A study of reconviction rates for women shows that 46 percent of women inmates were reconvicted in 2 years; whereas, 56 percent of male inmates were reconvicted within 2 years. Compared to men, women tend to have a much shorter criminal career history, both in elapsed time and in numbers of offenses. This paper also provides research data on ethnic minority women in prison, characteristics of women inmates, risk factors in women's offending, policy concerns, new sentencing provisions appropriate to women, and developments in the prison service. Charts