The cases were selected from juvenile murderers in Massachusetts charged over the past 15 years. Psychological evaluation of the juveniles shows common dynamics that emerge in a particular sequence. The personality is inadequately socialized due to a dependent maternal relationship of strong ambivalence that creates an adolescence with severe unresolved conflicts over aggression and passivity. An intense intrapsychic struggle evolves as the boy strives for identity and self-expression against strong repressive forces. This struggle intensifies as the boy's defenses are further threatened by the mother's continued insistence on her control and her severely ambivalent orientation towards the boy, coupled with the father's lack of countering support. The intense conflict and provocation severely strain the boy's underdeveloped mastery and defense skills, and repressive tendencies prevail. The struggle continues on a primitive level, and outlets are sought in paranoid construction and mounting feelings of tension and frustration. Then a fixation upon an intense interpersonal relationship may develop, or the struggle may remain internalized until an acute threatening circumstance pushes the boy to commit murder. Five references are included.