Aggressive behavior is frequently observed in men and women diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD). It can be assumed that BPD is also frequent among prisoners sentenced for violent crimes, who fulfil the criteria for BPD. The aggressiveness of BPD patients is predominantly, but not exclusively reactive and is closely linked to emotional dysregulation as a central psychopathological feature of BPD. The association between BPD and aggressive behavior is mediated via the emotional dysregulation and the tendency to frequent and fierce feelings of anger in the sense of sequential mediation. Interpersonal rejection situations typically serve as triggers, which link with the tendency of BPD patients to experience social threat in the context of a low and labile self-confidence. At the level of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms, functional disorders of the prefrontal-limbic cerebral network are assumed, which are under the control of serotonin, (anti) stress and sex hormones. Based on the current knowledge on aggression in individuals with BPD it seems realistic to assume that specific psychotherapeutic and perhaps even pharmacological treatment approaches will become available in the future to reduce the reactive aggressive behavior in this patient group.