The systems perspective, which has been developed over the past 50 years, offers tools that help to understand and respond to problems and issues holistically. Those who use a systems approach strive to understand interrelationships and patterns among seemingly unrelated things. For example, a systems approach helps to make sense of the complex issues and interrelationships between female offenders, the criminal justice system, and the larger society. It was a systems perspective that led to the understanding of the relationships between violence, learning disabilities, and the impulsiveness that can lead to offending behavior. After describing the systems perspective and how it is applied to understanding human behavior, the chapter focuses on how the systems approach can be applied to the treatment of female offenders. The author contends that a non-systems approach to offender treatment results in short-term improvements that cannot be sustained because they have not addressed all the dynamics involved for the offenders. Furthermore, without a systems approach, the myriad of factors that lead female offenders into crime and delinquency will not be recognized. By only treating one aspect of a problem, practitioners fail to realize and address the interrelationships between the high rates of violence in the home, criminalizing girls for running away from violent homes, and the consequences of institutionalization, which may lead ultimately to delinquency. As such, it is important to apply a systems approach to the prevention and treatment of female crime and delinquency. References