Law
See also: Judge (2000 AD)Mega-City One's laws are harsh, with many crimes not found in present-day law. Possession of sugar, for example, is illegal, as is the smoking of tobacco outside of licensed Smokatoriums, and coffee is banned as an illegal stimulant. The laws are enforced by the Judges, who are a combination of judge and police officer. Ordinary laws are enforced more harshly than the present day, reflecting the crime rate. Judges impose immediate sentences on the spot, usually lengthy sentences of imprisonment (or "encubement"). In extreme cases even the death penalty may be imposed, although relatively sparingly compared with the present day. In contrast many criminals are shot to death while resisting arrest, and resisters who survive Judge assault often receive a whole-life cube term.
The Judges themselves are not exempt from the law; they are expected to obey it more strictly than any other. A violation that would earn a citizen a few months in an Iso-Cube would get a Judge a twenty-year sentence, served as hard labor on Saturn's moon, Titan, after surgical modification to enable the convict to survive outside there without needing an expensive space suit.
Most ordinary citizens are sent to the Iso-Cubes, tiny cells located within huge prisons. These are designed for maximum rehabilitation in the shortest time possible, but ultimately the decision as to sentence rests with the judges. Sentences are usually very long. However, the death penalty is not in wide use, and is reserved for mass murder or endangering the security of the city. In spite of this judges do regularly shoot perps dead in the course of combat.
Firearm possession is only legal with the right firearms permit, which is very hard to obtain, the only real exception is in the cases of the Citidef units who may use heavy weapons (Though since Block Mania the security on these is extreme and they are only issued in wartime). However, in spite of this many firearms are in circulation, some sold on the black market while others are leftovers from the various invasions that have occurred over the past thirty years. Some families still possess twentieth-century handguns that have been handed down through the years. These are sometimes found by crime blitzes and will usually earn exactly the same penalty as a "modern" day lasblaster.
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Famous quotes containing the word law:
“They are the lovers of law and order who observe the law when the government breaks it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The law is a great thing,—because men are poor and weak, and bad. And it is great, because where it exists in its strength, no tyrant can be above it. But between you and me there should be no mention of law as the guide of conduct. Speak to me of honour, and of duty, and of nobility; and tell me what they require of you.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“It seems to be a law in American life that whatever enriches us anywhere except in the wallet inevitably becomes uneconomic.”
—Russell Baker (b. 1925)