This book examines the worlds and practices of school girls who participate in violent activities, but who are not involved with the juvenile justice system, members of gangs, or a visible minority group. It provides an understanding of where the violent school girl stands in relation to her nonviolent female peers, and her violent and nonviolent male peers. The book presents information from a research project during which the lives of six violent school girls were followed for one year. It includes information from ongoing conversations with their teachers, parents, and counselors. The girls chosen ranged in age from 13 to 16 years old, because that population shows the highest participation of girls in school-based violence. Chapter One presents an overview of past and current theories of crime and delinquency. Chapter Two, which draws from data generated by the Survey of Student Life, presents profiles of the adolescent school girl and her violent female peer. It also considers the adolescent school boy and his violent male peer, and considers how they differ from each other and from females. Drawing on the case study material, Chapters Three through Eight explore the lives of the individual violent school girls. The chapters focus on the girls' descriptions of themselves, families, social activities, and friends; school activities; their relationships with teachers, administrators, and counselors; and their moral understanding of their own participation in violence. Chapter Nine summarizes and analyzes the findings described in the preceding chapters. Chapter Ten ties these findings to existing approaches to violence prevention, points out the gaps, and makes suggestions for change. The goal is to provide information that may be applied to the design and implementation of programs and interventions that have the power to reach violent girls. Appendix I contains four tables; Appendix II is Resource List. (Contains 176 References.) (Author/JDM)