Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority (via mechanisms such as legal systems) can ultimately prescribe a conviction. Crimes may also result in cautions, rehabilitation or be unenforced. Individual human societies may each define crime and crimes differently, in different localities (state, local, international), at different time stages of the so-called "crime", from planning, disclosure, supposedly intended, supposedly prepared, incomplete, complete or future proclaimed after the "crime".^{[citation needed]}

While every crime violates the law, not every violation of the law counts as a crime; for example: breaches of contract and of other civil law may rank as "offences" or as "infractions". Modern societies generally regard crimes as offences against the public or the state, as distinguished from torts (wrongs against private parties that can give rise to a civil cause of action).

When informal relationships and sanctions prove insufficient to establish and maintain a desired social order, a government or a state may impose more formalized or stricter systems of social control. With institutional and legal machinery at their disposal, agents of the State can compel populations to conform to codes and can opt to punish or attempt to reform those who do not conform.

Hannah Foster (31 August 1985 - 14 March 2003) was a 17-year-old British student who was raped, strangled and murdered after a night out in Southampton in March 2003. Foster was murdered by an Indian Sikh immigrant Maninder Pal Singh Kohli. Her body was found in nearby West End, two days after she disappeared in Southampton.

Foster, a promising A-Level student who had been preparing to study medicine at university, was abducted half a mile from her home in Hampshire on 14 March 2003. Having been abducted by Kohli, Foster secretly made a call to emergency services in the hope they would realise she was in trouble. On the 999 tape, Foster can be heard speaking to a man with an Asian accent. The tape was played during the later trial at Winchester Crown Court on Wednesday 15 October 2008.

Foster's body was found in a country lane just outside Southampton two days later. A post-mortem examination revealed she had been raped and strangled.

Kohli fled to India shortly after Foster's body was found, and was later identified by investigators as a prime suspect in the case. After Indian police failed to apprehend Kohli, Foster's parents personally went to India and made a public appeal for information of his whereabouts. During their 10-day visit, Foster's parents held a series of press conferences as well as opening a telephone "hotline". Their visit soon became a subject of interest in the Indian press, and Kohli was arrested five days after their arrival. Hampshire police announced a reward of INR 5,000,000 to anyone whose clues led to the arrest of Kohli.

The Backpacker Murders is a name given to serial killings that occurred in New South Wales, Australia during the 1990s. The bodies of seven missing young people aged 19 to 22 were discovered partly buried in the Belanglo State Forest, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south west of the New South Wales town of Berrima. Five of the victims were international backpackers visiting Australia (three German, two British), and two were Australian travellers from Melbourne.

Australian Ivan Milat was convicted of the murders and is serving seven consecutive life sentences plus 18 years.

On 20 September 1992 a group of orienteers discovered a decaying corpse while orienteering in the Belanglo State Forest. The following day, police constables Roger Gough and Suzanne Roberts discovered a second body 30 metres (98 ft) from the first. Early media reports suggested that the bodies were of missing British backpackers Caroline Clarke and Joanne Walters, who had disappeared from the inner Sydney suburb of Kings Cross in April 1992. However, a German couple, Gabor Neugebauer and Anja Habschied, had also disappeared from the Kings Cross area sometime after Christmas 1991 and Simone Schmidl, also from Germany, had been reported missing for more than a year. It was also possible that the bodies were of a young Victorian couple, Deborah Everist and James Gibson, who had been missing since leaving Frankston in 1989.

Jock Palfreeman is an Australian convicted of murder in Bulgaria.

In December 2007 Palfreeman was involved in an incident during which Bulgarian student Andrei Monov was fatally stabbed. Palfreeman is alleged to have attacked two male Bulgarian students and stabbed them, killing Monov instantly. The other stabbed young man, Antoan Zahariev, was saved in hospital. In his defence, Palfreeman claims that he went to protect two Roma men from a group of thugs, and after the mob turned on him, he drew a knife for protection. His plea of not guilty based on self-defence was defeated partially due to Monov having been stabbed in the back. However, the location of the wound is disputed by Jock's father, Dr. Simon Palfreeman. In his summary of the case, Dr. Palfreeman stated "the wound is high and towards the back of the armpit" as opposed to what he claims is the popularised version reported in the Bulgarian media.

It has been alleged that Palfreeman has a previous history of violent behavior and that he had stabbed another two young people in Australia in 2004. However, despite an investigation at the time, no charges were laid against Palfreeman in relation to that incident with Australian police citing a lack of evidence. Palfreeman has maintained that he was not responsible for the people being stabbed.