Abstract
Starting with the work of Lombroso in the late nineteenth century, continuing into the pioneering works of Adler and Simon in the mid‐1970s, and carrying into to the present day, gender has been one of the most investigated demographic correlates to be linked to antisocial and criminal behavior. This chapter provides a brief overview of the criminal career patterns of female offending as well as basic gender differences from a developmental/life‐course perspective, including what has been learned from quantitative and qualitative data. Then, it provides an overview of some of the leading perspectives in the developmental/life‐course area that have been brought to bear to understand female offending. Piquero et al. observed that much of the criminal career research had still concentrated on males and more longitudinal studies were needed that included information on female offenders. The chapter concludes with implications for prevention and correctional treatment.