Working effectively with victimized youth certainly presents many challenges. However, it can be accomplished through a process that takes adolescent development into account, collaborative community relationship-building, and some creativity and initiative. The most important resource and component of the process is the youth themselves. Youth participation is absolutely essential. Special attention must be paid to teen victims of crime and abuse. Adolescence is a specific developmental period with its own special characteristics, yet traditional victim services were developed for primarily adult women and are ill-equipped to handle the special challenges in serving teens. Some of the major themes and dynamics of typical American adolescence and the interaction with the trauma of victimization are reviewed focusing on the developmental impact of victimization; these areas are independence, puberty and body image, identity, friends and other peers, intimacy, and risk-taking. References