Girls and Aggression

Abstract

On the evening of November 14, 1997, a group of teenage girls in Victoria, British Columbia participated in the brutal beating death of Reena Virk, an adolescent girl whom they all knew well, and alternately befriended and ostracized. The murder was not an accident, nor was it the result of impulsive lashing out that caused death without intention. On the contrary, the murder of Reena Virk was well planned, and it required vicious beatings that took place over several hours before she was left to drown. News of her death was a wake up call to Canadians. Although similar events involving teenage girls as the perpetrators of violent crime had occurred in the United States, Canada had remained relatively insulated in this regard. Reena’s murder provoked the public and academic researchers to ask whether rates of violence and aggression in girls were increasing, what factors contributed to such acts being carried out, and how we could intervene to prevent further tragedies. In response to these questions, we organized a conference in Vancouver during May 2001. The Vancouver Conference on Aggressive and Violent Girls brought together leading experts from across Canada and the U.S., representing knowledge from a diverse range of disciplines, to speak to the question of girls' involvement in aggression and violence.This book grew out of that conference, and it reflects the current knowledge in the field, and importantly, the fundamental questions that remain unanswered.