Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of

another human, and generally this premeditated state of mind

distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide (such
as manslaughter).Most societies both present and in antiquity have
considered murder a most serious crime worthy of the harshest of
punishment, under the justification that commission of murder is
highly detrimental to good order within society. In most countries,
a person convicted of murder is typically given a long prison
sentence, possibly a life sentence where permitted, and in some
countries, the death penalty may be imposed for such an act
though this practice is becoming less common.

Homicides rise to incredible numbers among headhunter cultures

such as the Papua. When a boy is born, the father has to kill a man.
He needs a name for his child and can receive it only by a man, he
himself has murdered. When a man wants to marry, he must kill a
man. When a man dies, his family again has to kill a man.

found about her head, neck, and face, with minor injuries to her
fingers. Police soon discovered the murder weapon in the nearby
woods. The girls' story of Rieper's accidental death quickly fell apart.
The trial was a sensational affair, with speculation about their possible
lesbianism and insanity. The girls were convicted on 28 August 1954,
and each of them spent five years in prison as they were too young to
be considered for the death penalty. Some sources say they were
released with the condition that they never contact each other
again,but Sam Barnett, then Secretary for Justice, told journalists
there was no such condition.
The murder was touched upon as strong evidence of moral decline less
than four months later by the Special Committee on Moral
Delinquency in Children and Adolescents in what became known as
the Mazengarb Report, named after its chair, Ossie Mazengarb.

The ParkerHulme murder case began in the city of Christchurch,

New Zealand, on 22 June 1954, when Honorah Rieper (also known as
Honorah Parker, her legal name, Honora Rieper and Honora Parker)
was killed by her teenage daughter, Pauline Parker, and Pauline's close
friend Juliet Hulme. Parker was 16 at the time, while Hulme was 15.
The murder (true story)

In the past, certain types of homicide were lawful and justified.

Georg Oesterdiekhoff wrote that:
Evans-Pritchard says about the Nuer from Sudan: "Homicide is
not forbidden, and Nuer do not think it wrong to kill a man in fair
fight. On the contrary, a man who slays another in combat is
admired for his courage and skill." (Evans-Pritchard 1956: 195)
This statement is true for most African tribes, for pre-modern
Europeans, for Indigenous Australians, and for Native Americans,
according to ethnographic reports from all over the world. ...

On 22 June 1954, the body of Honorah Rieper was discovered in

Victoria Park, in Christchurch, New Zealand. That morning Honorah
had gone for a walk through Victoria Park with her daughter Pauline
Parker, and Pauline's best friend, Juliet Hulme. Approximately 130
metres (430 ft) down the path, in a wooded area of the park near a
small wooden bridge, Hulme and Parker bludgeoned Rieper to death
with half a brick enclosed in an old stocking. After committing the
murder, which they had planned together, the two girls fled, covered
in blood, back to the tea kiosk where the three of them had eaten only
minutes before. They were met by Agnes and Kenneth Ritchie, owners
of the tea shop, whom they told that Honorah had fallen and hit her
head. Her body was found by Kenneth Ritchie. Major lacerations were

After her release from prison, Juliet Hulme spent time in the United
States and later began a successful career as a historical detective
novelist under her new name, Anne Perry. She has been a Mormon
since about 1968. The fact that Perry and Hulme were the same person
was not well-known until 1994. In March 2006, Perry argued that
while her relationship with Pauline Parker was obsessive, they were
not lesbians.
Pauline Parker spent some time in New Zealand under close
surveillance before being allowed to leave for England. As of 1997, she
was living in the small village of Hoo near Strood, Kent, and running a
children's riding school.As an adult, she became a Roman Catholic.
She expressed strong remorse for having killed her mother and for
many years refused to give interviews about the murder.