Christine Alder is Principal Research Fellow in the Criminology Department at The University of Melbourne. She is the coeditor (with Rob White) of The Police and Young People in Australia and coauthor (with Ken Polk) of Child Victims of Homicide. Anne Worrall is Professor of Criminology at Keele University. She is the coeditor (with Pat Carlen) of Gender, Crime, and Justice and author of Offending Women: Female Lawbreakers and the Criminal Justice System and Punishment in the Community: The Future of Criminal Justice.

• Acknowledgments 1. A Contemporary Crisis?Christine Alder and Anne Worrall 2. Rough Girls, 1880–1930: The "Recent" History of Violent Young WomenBarry Godfrey 3. Twisted Sisters, Ladettes, and the New Penology: The Social Construction of "Violent Girls"Anne Worrall 4. Racism, "Girl Violence," and the Murder of Reena VirkSheila Batacharya 5. Turbulent Talk: Girls' Making Sense of ViolenceMichele Burman 6. Capturing Girls' Experiences of "Community Violence" in the United StatesLaurie Schaffner 7. Coming Out to Play? Young Women and Violence on the StreetJenny J. Pearce 8. Violence in the Schoolyard: School Girls' Use of ViolenceSibylle Artz 9. Situational Effects of Gender Inequality on Girls' Participation in ViolenceJody Miller and Norman A. White Glossary of UK/Australian terms by chapter Contributors Index

"The … contributions use case studies and conversations with girls to rethink girls' power, subordination, and relationships with each other, boys, adults, and the broader communities in which they live. They raise vital questions about perceptions and meanings of violence in all its raced and gendered complexity." — CHOICE"All of the authors bring a useful analysis to the issues of young women's use of violence that adds texture and meaning to their agency in multiple locations—schools, the streets, and the domestic sphere. The book also provides a provocative analysis based on race and class as a social context for the interpretation of young women's violence."— Patricia O'Brien, author of Making It in the Free World: Women in Transition from Prison