Violence Against and by At-Risk Girls

A growing body of work has emerged that examines crime and delinquency as gendered events. Given the prevalence of violence in the lives of women and girls, scholars have used various theoretical perspectives, including feminist pathways and “doing gender, ” to investigate the victimization–offending overlap. The authors contribute to this literature through an analysis of juvenile court records using a sample of at-risk girls. The authors identify the context of girls ’ experiences as victims of violence, perpetrators of violence, and both victims and perpetrators of violence. The authors conclude with epistemological thoughts regarding transdisciplinary research on girls ’ experiences with violence. Keywords girls, victimization, violence In recent decades, a growing body of work has emerged that views crime and delinquency as gendered events. That is, the situational contexts that give rise to crime, and particularly violent crime, the forms it takes, and the consequences of violence are structured by pat-terns of gender inequality and by the ways in which gender intersects with race and class to further shape girls ’ and boys ’ risks and experiences. Within this broad framework, research on girls ’ experiences with violence has largely been informed by two theoretical approaches. The first approach examines the effects of violence against girls on their later behaviors and life circumstances (Belknap & Holsinger, 2006