There are a number of good texts on gender and crime. Though some are dated, they remain classic and essential reading for those wanting to review the history of criminology and the place of the female offender within it. These include:

• F. Heidensohn (1996) Women and Crime, 2nd edn (Macmillan);
• S. Walklate (2000) Gender, Crime and Criminal Justice (Willan); L. Gelsthorpe and A. Morris (eds) (1990) Feminist Perspectives Criminology (Open University Press);

For a more international discussion of perspectives, see

• F. Heidensohn and N. Rafter (eds) (1999) International Feminist Perspectives in Criminology: Engendering a Discipline (Open University Press),
• R. Barberet (2014) Women, Crime and Criminal Justice: A Global Enquiry (Routledge).

For the more focused insight into the rise of the so-called ‘new female offender’, see the collection of contributions offered in

• C. Alder and A. Worrall (eds) (2004) Girls’ Violence: Myths and Realities (SUNY Press)
• L. Snider’s (2003) excellent contribution to the British Journal of Criminology on ‘Constituting the punishable woman: Atavistic man incarcerates post-modern woman (43(2): 354–78).

For an insight into girls more specifically, there is an excellent insight provided by

• M. Burman and S. Batchelor (2009) ‘Between two stools: Responding to young women who offend’ (Youth Justice, 9(3): 270–85)
• G. Sharpe (2011) Offending Girls: Young Women and Youth Justice (Routledge).

In relation to the broad interventions for women offenders, see

• M. Malloch and G. McIvor (eds) (2013) Women, Punishment and Social Justice (Routledge);
• L. Gelsthorpe, G. Sharpe and J. Roberts (2007) Provision for Women Offenders in the Community (Fawcett Society);
• R. Sheehan, G. McIver and C. Trotter (eds) (2011) Working with Women Offenders in the Community (Willan).