The Girls Study Group is an interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners convened by OJJDP to develop a comprehensive research foundation for understanding and responding to girls’ involvement in delinquency. The Study Group members provide complementary and multidisciplinary backgrounds and experiences that encompass the range of knowledge needed to understand and explain female delinquency. The group includes sociologists, psychologists, criminologists, and gender studies experts, as well as researchers and practitioners with legal and girls' program development experience. The group was directed by Dr. Margaret Zahn until April 2008. Currently, the group is supported by RTI staff working under the leadership of Dr. Stephanie R. Hawkins, a research clinical psychologist.

• Dr. Stephanie Hawkins, Research Clinical Psychologist, Crime, Violence, and Justice Research Program, RTI International



• Dr. Robert Agnew, Professor, Department of Sociology, Emory University



• Dr. Elizabeth Cauffman, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine



• Dr. Meda Chesney Lind, Professor, Women’s Studies Program, University of Hawaii at Manoa



• Dr. Gayle Dakof, Associate Research Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Miami



• Dr. Del Elliott, Director, Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, University of Colorado



• Dr. Barry Feld, Professor, School of Law, University of Minnesota



• Dr. Diana Fishbein, Director, Transdisciplinary Behavioral Science Program, RTI



• Dr. Peggy Giordano, Professor of Sociology, Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University



• Dr. Candace Kruttschnitt, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota



• Dr. Jody Miller, Associate Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri - St. Louis



• Dr. Merry Morash, Professor, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University



• Dr. Darrell Steffensmeier, Professor, Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University



• Ms. Giovanna Taormina, Executive Director, Girls Circle Association



• Dr. Donna-Marie Winn, Investigator, FPG Child Development Institute