This article employs a gender-as-social-practice perspective to explain patterned differences in the situational context of delinquency by sex. Using data on juvenile offenders from the Philadelphia Birth Cohort II study, criminal events, rather than individuals, are used as the unit of analysis. The events approach decenters individuals from the analysis and provides a window through which to explore how gender influences certain characteristics of crime. Findings suggest that male and female juveniles, alone and in groups, become involved in crime that is concentrated in different types of physical space. In particular, boys are more likely to be involved in crimes that occur outdoors and in a larger variety of places than are girls. The context of criminal events provides a place where the practices of gender and the distribution of delinquent opportunities appear to intersect.
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