Female criminal careers

Female antisocial and criminal behaviour is not a unitary phenomenon, but a heterogeneous one, that is yet to be directly and specifically studied. The aim of this paper is to review the scientific literature and empirical evidence for female criminal careers, and to address the importance of risk-based intervention. Some empirical queries will be a preamble for carrying out this investigation: ▪ Do we need a new paradigm to study female criminality? ▪ Are there risk factors and mechanisms that account more strongly for female offending than for male offending, and vice versa? ▪ What are the intervention strategies at work? Female criminality should be investigated not as an appendix of male criminality, because not all female offenders share the same common pathway of involvement in crime. It is significant, from a preventive point of view, to identify distinct pathways, each representing patterns of development and risk factors that characterize the complexity and heterogeneity of criminal careers.