Blood sisters / Guardian, 3 July 2008
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2289179,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=society
Angela Neustatter
"According to the Youth Justice Board, there has been a 25% increase in offences committed by girls aged 10 to 17 over the past three years - with a 50% increase in violent offences. The issue was brought into sharp focus this week in reports of the trial of Chelsea Bennett, 19, who admitted stabbing and killing Sian Simpson, 17. Bennett was cleared of murder, having argued that she acted in self-defence. Police reports of the crime noted that there had been between 12 and 30 girls at the scene in Croydon, south London, when the killing happened in June last year - Simpson's death had apparently come after hours of escalating tension between two groups of young women."