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How can we better support girls and young women in the youth justice system? In a new journal article published in Child & Youth Services, Dr Orlaith Rice (Stable Lives Safer Streets Hub, REPPP), Dr Colm Walsh and Dr Megan Kelly (Queen's University Belfast) explore the underlying needs that shape girls’ pathways into the justice system. Drawing on recent research, the article highlights how persistent abuse, trauma, gendered expectations, and systemic failures contribute to justice involvement - and why current responses often fall short. Future avenues for further research identified by the authors in this study include a focus outside of the Anglo-American Global North, a focus on intersectionality (particularly between care experience and gender), empirical studies that compare both boys and girls in order to identify gender-specific needs, and evaluations of existing gender-sensitive programmes.