Girls' bad behavior has attracted seemingly relentless poplar attention in recent years, with girls' violence and girl gangs commonly constructed as urgent and growing social problems. At the same time, the number of young women entering the youth justice system, including youth custody, has increased dramatically. This book is based on detailed qualitative research in two Youth Offending Teams and a Secure Training Centre - the first study of its kind since the 'modernization' of the youth justice system over a decade ago. It explores young women's accounts of their pathways into crime and the impact of youth justice intervention on their everyday lives. It also analyzes professionals' accounts of young female offenders, including the extent to which discourses problematising female youthful behavior have infiltrated professional discourse. "Offending Girls" challenges simplistic and demonising representations of 'bad' girls in the twenty-first century and argues that the interventionist thrust which characterizes the contemporary youth justice system has had a particularly pernicious impact on girls.