Young female offenders comprise approximately one fifth of the New Zealand youth offender population; however, they remain an understudied population of offenders. This paper aims to provide a current overview of the key characteristics of this population and recommendations for how the youth justice system could better cater to this population. These recommendations include more training of professionals (specifically judges, youth advocates and justice coordinators) and practitioners (specifically social workers, psychologists and youth workers) in the youth-justice system in matters specific to young female offenders. A gender-responsive and trauma-informed approach to addressing offending behaviour is also necessary. There is a need for new empirical research in the New Zealand context on young female offenders and the best way to address offending by this group. Finally, a focus on the diversity of young female offenders is a priority, given the over-representation of indigenous and ethnic-minority communities in justice jurisdictions worldwide.

年轻女性罪犯约占新西兰青年罪犯人口的五分之一；然而，他们仍然是一个未被充分研究的罪犯群体。本文旨在概述这一人群的主要特征，并就青年司法系统如何更好地迎合这一人群提出建议。这些建议包括对青年司法系统中的专业人员（特别是法官、青年倡导者和司法协调员）和从业人员（特别是社会工作者、心理学家和青年工作者）就针对年轻女性罪犯的问题进行更多培训。也有必要采取一种性别敏感和创伤知情的方法来解决犯罪行为。需要在新西兰背景下对年轻女性罪犯进行新的实证研究，以及解决该群体犯罪的最佳方法。最后，鉴于土著和少数民族社区在全球司法管辖区的代表性过高，关注年轻女性罪犯的多样性是一个优先事项。