Homicide

When Okonkwo attacks his wife on the "week of peace", it is a serious offense to the gods. Ohadike writes that spilling the blood of the community insults the earth goddess. The Igbo punishment is typically hanging, however punishments varied from place to place based on gender and social status. For example a woman killing her husband or a woman killing her "co-wife" was not hanged because she (and her co-wives) were considered the husband's property. It's ironic that such a chauvinistic cultural attitude actually //benefits// a woman in this instance. The Igbo believed that all murder must be punished, so if a murderer escaped his family was punished in his stead. Punishments included becoming hostages until the murderer turned himself in, paying a fine, and/or giving a daughter to the victim's family. The Igbo attitude for violence was such that even in //war// killing was considered an abomination (or //nso//). After war, men went through extensive cleansing rituals. Commitances of //nso// (which included other offenses besides homicide) required a doctor to remove the moral stain through rituals not just for the offender, but also their family and community.