Supersymmetry has long been the favourite framework for beyond the Standard Model physics for most particle physics phenomenologists. However, in order to ensure proton stability most such studies invoke the conservation of R-parity. 
It turns out though, that this is an overly restrictive way of achieving an acceptable theory, and lifting the strict requirement of R-parity conservation yields dramatically different phenomenology in many cases. In this lecture I will discuss what R-parity is and what consequences its violation has. Less restrictive ways of ensuring proton stability will be presented. I will discuss the advantages of violating R-parity such as solving the cosmological gravitino problem and generating neutrino masses. The induced instability of the lightest superpartner will also be shown to have far reaching consequences for LHC physics and dark matter phenomenology.