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This is a preliminary report of observations made during one year in the women's prison of Mexico City. The material was obtained by means of interviews with prisoners accused of homicide or aggravated assault. A profound feeling of injustice of variable intensity and duration was consistently present in their formative years; all had been physically abused during childhood. The majority had lost one of the parents between the ages of one and four. As children they were mischievous and restless, and were frequently labeled 'the black sheep of the family'. The criminal act in all instances was triggered by the threat of losing the love object. The desertion was seen as a terrible injustice which mobilized uncontrollable rage. Reference is made to Freud's The Exceptions as part of the dynamics of these cases, but in addition an ego defect is postulated due to the early traumata which altered the capacity to neutralize aggression. In comparing psychopathic actions with passional homicide there is a difference in the role of the superego. In the former the superego cannot control behavior and the id becomes allied with the ego, re-enforcing the impulse. In passional homicide the feeling of injustice re-enforces superego impulses which collaborate with the id, altering reality and the concept of justice prevalent in the external world. The homicidal act is an alloplastic psychotic acting out which prevents disintegration. In this sense it is a defensive and symptomatic maneuver of the ego.