Objective: The goal of the current study was to evaluate the sociodemographic, criminological, and psychiatric characteristics of the full sample of female violent offenders committed involuntarily to a forensic psychiatric hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Method: Psychiatric assessment using SCID-IV in all the female violent offenders treated in the only forensic psychiatric hospital in the state. Results: Most offenders (n = 29) were non-Caucasian single women with very low income. Schizophrenia was the most common diagnosis. Most patients had already been diagnosed with a mental disorder and placed under psychiatric treatment, but dropout and non-adherence were common. Conclusion: Violent behavior in mentally ill female offenders may at least partially reflect the failure of mental health and social services to provide much-needed support for economically and socially vulnerable women.