The discussion focuses on the nature, extent, and trends in delinquency by females and the differences in perceptions about female delinquency and the reality as revealed in recent research and interviews with female juvenile delinquents. The discussion notes the impacts of social roles, gender socialization, and the life experiences of young females on the experiences of female status offenders and delinquents in the justice system. Individual chapters explain the similarities and differences between male and female delinquency and status offenses, the role of child sexual abuse as a factor in adolescent females' running away from home, the involvement of females in youth gangs, and the relevance of existing delinquency theories to female delinquency. Further chapters examine the lives of females who enter the justice system, the history and current responses of the juvenile court to females, and the disproportionate use of institutionalization for female juveniles. An additional chapter describes promising programs such as therapeutic foster homes, group living situations, homes for adolescent mothers and their children, and independent living arrangements. Tables, chapter notes, name and subject indexes, and approximately 650 references