Presenting research that will underpin effective practice with women who offend, this unique and thought-provoking text aims to help professionals meet the needs of this group as well as providing a theoretical resource for policy makers and academics.

Part I: Female Offending and Responses to It. 1. Female Offending: A Theoretical Overview, Loraine Gelsthorpe, Institute of Criminology. 2. Breaking the Mould: Patterns of Female Offending, Michele Burman, University of Glasgow. 3. From `A Safer to a Better Way': Transformations in Penal Policy for Women, Jacqueline Tombs, Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice. 4. Why Are More Women Being Sentenced to Custody? Carol Hedderman, Criminal Policy Research Unit. Part II: Women in the Criminal Justice System. 5. Living with Paradox: Community Supervision of Women Offenders, Judith Rumgay, London School of Economics. 6. Service with a Smile? Women and Community `Punishment', Gill McIvor, University of Stirling. 7. Women in Prison, Nancy Loucks, Independent Criminologist. 8. Women's Release from Prison: The Case for Change, Christine Wilkinson, University of Leicester. 9. Black Women and the Criminal Justice System, Ruth Chigwada-Bailey, Consultant Criminologist. Part III: Contemporary Issues. 10. Risk, Dangerousness and Female Offenders, Hazel Kemshall, DeMontfort University. 11. The `Criminogenic' Needs of Women Offenders, Carol Hedderman, Criminal Policy Research Unit. 12. Women, Drug Use and the Criminal Justice System, Margaret S. Malloch, University of Stirling. 13. Working with Girls and Young Women, Susan Batchelor and Michele Burman, University of Glasgow. The Contributors. Index.