Arrest rates for girls have risen, and the media has embraced the notion of a new breed of violent girls. But some experts say the “real change is in how police and society deal with acts that used to be viewed as relatively minor,” reports LiveScience.com (here via Yahoo! News). A 2004 report by the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence drew similar conclusions, finding that the media’s portrayal of violent girls, among other things, had contributed to the increase in arrests of girls.