The present study is concerned with understanding when and how adolesc
ent girls become involved in violent street crime. Specifically, the s
tudy explores the correlates or explanatory factors of such offending
among a sample of women arrested and/or incarcerated for violent stree
t crimes in New York City. The findings of this study suggest that an
adequate understanding of female offending must consider the impact of
neighborhood, peer and addiction factors that affect both male and fe
male participation in criminal violence. In addition, it appears as th
ough different configurations of these factors contribute to the initi
ation of violent offending depending on the age of onset. Early initia
tion into violent crime was accompanied by participation in a wide var
iety of other offending behaviors and deviant lifestyles. On the other
hand, those women who experienced a later onset of violent offending
did so within the context of a criminal career that, up to the point o
f substance abuse, was more specialized and focused on typically nonvi
olent gender congruent activities (eg., prostitution, shoplifting).