The limited amount of research with adult women has focused on domestic forms of violence. When other forms of violence have been studied, the selective nature of the samples makes it difficult to generalize about gender differences in risk factors related to violence. Although researchers have started to examine the application of risk assessment instruments with women, the conflicting findings and limited sample sizes have prevented any conclusive statements. Also, if violence risk prediction is the goal, the low base rate of the types of violence committed among women makes accurate prediction difficult if not impossible. If case management is the primary objective, several key factors related to the types of nonphysical violence more characteristic of women than men are missing from current assessment schemes. Adolescent girls pose distinctive challenges in violence risk assessment. Some of the challenges are to take into account that female juvenile offenders are a marginalized and highly victimized group, to determine how the characteristics of female juvenile offenders influence violence risk assessment, to consider how violence among adolescent girls may be a qualitatively different phenomenon, and to consider how the definition and measurement of violence may impact violence risk assessment. Other challenges are to address the fact that adult outcomes for aggressive and violent girls differ, as well as how different adult outcomes for girls impact violence risk assessment. Suggestions for future directions pertain to the inclusion of gender specific risk and protective factors, redefining terms, and the careful evaluation of current risk assessment schemes. 89 references