This thesis, ‘An exploration of female violence and anger’, consists of three chapters. Chapter one is a systematic review exploring risk factors associated with violence in female forensic populations. It is, to the best of our knowledge, the first review to look at the state of play of violence risk factors in women generally. Twenty-four papers were included in the review. Factors found to be associated with violence in female forensic populations fell into three domains: individual clinical factors (including personality, diagnoses, self-injurious behaviour, suicide attempts, substance misuse, and criminal and violence history), social and familial factors (including parental history, abuse, situation stress, gang membership, socio-demographic variables) and biological factors (including cortisol levels, traumatic brain injury, and age). Implications for the management of violent women are discussed. Chapter two is an exploration into how staff working with women on female forensic wards recognise, understand, and respond to patient anger. A qualitative study design interviewed six ward-based staff working on female forensic wards in a secure forensic hospital in the United Kingdom. Using thematic analysis, four superordinate themes (including subordinate themes) were extracted from the data: ‘Perspectives on women’s anger’ (including ‘It’s not what good girls do’, ‘Rage by the rules’, and ‘Nature vs nurture’), ‘Anger expression’ (including ‘Obvious anger’, ‘Hidden anger: isolation and withdrawal’, and ‘Internalised anger: self-harm’), ‘Centrality of relationships’ (including ‘Knowing you, knowing cues: recognising anger’ and ‘Knowing you, knowing what to do: responding to anger’), and ‘The emotional impact’ (including ‘Shock (horror)’, ‘Shhh – we’re angry too’, and ‘The swan’). Implications on gender-informed policy and staff wellbeing are discussed. Chapter three discusses the implications for the systematic review and empirical research paper in further detail, particularly the clinical impact to forensic services, as well as providing personal points of reflection throughout the research process.