|
Post by Mr. Glow on Sept 2, 2011 1:29:25 GMT 1
So, I've been planning out a fanfiction (not a "fnafiction", this time. I'm serious!) following the investigations undertaken by a pair of C-Sec officers, and it's got me wondering about law enforcement in the Mass Effect universe.
We never get a decent look at it (Captain Bailey's precinct in ME2 is almost impossibly vague about everything but his lighthearted corruption and roughness, Garrus, an investigator of middling rank, got handed the "everyone in a human colony slaughtered with accusations of one black-ops agent killing another" case, and Shepard's interactions with criminals pretty much amount to "blow them away or let them go scot free"), so I decided to create this thread in which we can, hopefully discuss C-Sec and law enforcement in ME.
A few things have been puzzling me, like:
* Does the Citadel practice capital punishment? There is mention of Shepard and co being executed if they're caught after they steal the Normandy near the end of ME1, but that seems like more of an Alliance thing.
* Are the lengths of imprisonment equal for the different races? Surely a human "life sentence" would seem laughable to a krogan or an asari, and getting a few human years for a more minor crime could pretty much mean dying in prison for a salarian.
|
|
|
Post by CAPT Issac R. Madden on Sept 2, 2011 1:44:58 GMT 1
Interesting idea and good question. This may help with my own fic, actually.
I'm not sure what the Council would think of capital punishment, but I could see it happening in certain circumstances. Course, why put someone on death row when a Spectre can do the job with less paperwork/hassle?
|
|
Octo
Commander
Posts: 240
|
Post by Octo on Sept 2, 2011 1:51:46 GMT 1
What are the laws on the Citadel in the first place? Or the justice system? It seems to me it could be rather difficult to come up with a race-neutral legal code...
|
|
|
Post by CAPT Issac R. Madden on Sept 2, 2011 1:53:31 GMT 1
What are the laws on the Citadel in the first place? Or the justice system? It seems to me it could be rather difficult to come up with a race-neutral legal code... Agreed. Look at all the shit we deal with in RL. Now multiply the complexity several thousand times and you've got galatic law.
|
|
|
Post by MarianneClaus on Sept 2, 2011 2:02:29 GMT 1
It's really vague, I agree. Perhaps criminals are merely held by C-Sec and eventually handed over to their own species' governments for the appropriate punishment?
|
|
Octo
Commander
Posts: 240
|
Post by Octo on Sept 2, 2011 2:04:52 GMT 1
That works if the crimes are intra-species. But what happens if a salarian kills a turian? Won't the turians demand what they see as proper justice?
Now working out criminal laws is something that might still be doable. But a justice system? Hell already among humans there are hundreds of different assumptions what a due process is. And now with aliens...
|
|
|
Post by MarianneClaus on Sept 2, 2011 2:12:11 GMT 1
True. And I can't see governments negotiating over petty crime (i.e. salarian steals money from turian).
|
|
|
Post by Knightfall on Sept 2, 2011 2:42:58 GMT 1
I'm sure the Council have probably defined a set of laws that all races must abide by while in Citadel Space.
Just throwing this out there for the sake of discussion:
Misdemeanors:
-Possibility of a hefty fine -Threat of deportation out of Citadel Space -Community Service -Imprisonment for a small period of time.
Minor Felonies:
-Imprisonment -Deportation out of Citadel Space, or to their respective race's space or home star system.
Major Felonies (murder, etc.):
-Grounds for execution -Long-term imprisonment -Placed in stasis "Demolition Man" style
You'd have to figure out just how strict the laws of Citadel Space are, since you might have a conflict between the judicial system on the Citadel and the offender's homeworld. Maybe the laws are absolute, so that they can't be contested, or perhaps there's room for the offender's homeworld to appoint a councilor or lawyer to take part in the proceedings.
You can also think about how executions are carried out. Maybe convicted murderers are just shot out of the airlock, or executed humanely (heh) and shipped back to their homeworld. Fun stuff to think about! xD
|
|
|
Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Sept 2, 2011 11:28:37 GMT 1
i think we could also look at Babylon 5 and how they deal with things. For example executions aren't allowed but they can 're-program' the killers into folk who serve the community.
|
|
Octo
Commander
Posts: 240
|
Post by Octo on Sept 2, 2011 12:10:09 GMT 1
No, I don't think so. That's a matter for the member states, after all - but the Citadel is not ruled by any member state, but directly by the Council.
I could see the Citadel having a sorts of bare-bones legal code, with as few restrictions as possible actually so as to accomodate all species. (Then again - vagrancy laws on the Citadel. Hardly an example for an hands-off penal code... hm.)
Plus, even if they could agree on a law code, how exactly would punishments such as proposed by you be determined? That is, again, how is the system of justice built up? Are there courts on the Citadel, and if yes, how do they work?
|
|
|
Post by Knightfall on Sept 2, 2011 12:38:56 GMT 1
If it's not specifically defined in the games, you can pretty much fill in the blanks yourself. That's part of the fun of fanfiction: Trying to peg something that's somewhere between your own twist on things and what might actually.
Though, it's hard to figure out exactly what the hierarchy is on the Citadel. The Council might be the ruling head of Citadel Space, but lesser matters might be carried out by subordinates, judges, district attorney-types, what have you. Though, the degree of punishments for certain degrees of criminal acts would probably have to be built by you. I was just using the US judicial system as a reference.
Murder typically equals consecutive life sentences, or the death penalty (depending on the state). Crimes just short of murder are also typically life sentences. Anything below that is either time in prison based on the severity of the crime (grand theft is typically a year or two, depending), a hefty fine, or community service. Though, community service on the Citadel sounds pretty fun! xD
|
|
|
Post by CAPT Issac R. Madden on Sept 2, 2011 13:34:56 GMT 1
Wait... didn't Garrus bitch about "revolving door prisons"? in both games? That could offer a clue as to what the punishments are like for crime on the Citadel.
|
|
|
Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Sept 2, 2011 14:39:19 GMT 1
Wait, capatalism still plays a part in the justice system? ....dude, lame.
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Glow on Sept 2, 2011 17:11:23 GMT 1
Wait... didn't Garrus bitch about "revolving door prisons"? in both games? That could offer a clue as to what the punishments are like for crime on the Citadel. I always thought his problems with C-Sec were "red tape" that prevented him from firing into crowds of civilians to get his perp (ME1) and C-Sec being in disarray mere months after an surprise attack that wiped out half of the galaxy's fleet and cost tens of thousands of lives (ME2)
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Glow on Sept 11, 2011 4:26:00 GMT 1
Here's something I've been wondering: Is that blue t-shirt thing Bailey, Harkin and most of the other C-Sec officers wear their uniform? It seems kind of informal...
|
|