Her case draws attention to a disturbing trend in juvenile justice.
In the last decade, florida saw a 67-percent increase in felony crimes among girls... and a 50-percent increase in violent crimes.

Channel Three's Dan Thomas explains how the state is trying to reverse that trend.

Nivette Mason: "She was only 15, she was only 15!"

A 13 year old girl tells police she stabbed her 15 year old best friend to death after arguing over firecrackers...

Three teenage girls are arrested for a series of burglaries and car thefts.
All this.. in one week in Pensacola and it has become more common over the past several years.

"You would see that there's an increase."

Mike Berry with the Division of Juvenile Justice is on the forefront of Florida's effort to curb the trend of young girls turning to crime.
Over the past decade Florida has seen the number of juvenile girls arrested shoot up by 44 percent!

The number of arrests for violent crime has nearly doubled!
Still, Berry is encouraged by more recent trends.

"In the past year in our area there has been a decrease."

He credits that decrease, in part, to programs like the Pace Center
--- an intervention service aimed at girls before they commit serious felonies.
the Pace Center concentrates on problems unique to girls.

---problems like:
Sexual Abuse... 70 percent of delinquent girls have been abused.

Teen Pregnancy... girl offenders are more likely to have had sex than girls who don't get in trouble.

And poor grades... many female offenders have learning disabilities and special academic needs.

"A lot of times it stems from something that's happened to them and they didn't know how to effectively deal with that."

Berry says helping girls with these symptoms is the first step in steering them away from crime and towards a brighter future.

Meanwhile, the godsister of this weekend's stabbing victim hopes more troubled young girls get the help they need.

Nivette Mason: "I just feel like in today's society we need to think about the things we do before we do it and we need to teach our kids that that's wrong."