Space Law

Space Law

On Space Station 14, stations operate under abbreviated space law. All crew, passengers, and visitors aboard the station are expected to know and follow these laws (they are fairly common sense, only security and the captain need to know the times).

Treatment Of Prisoners

Prisoners still have certain rights that must be upheld by law enforcement:

• Prisoners must be granted adequate medical care. They should also be provided psychiatric and spiritual counselling if requested.
• Prisoners must be allowed access to communications equipment (Radios) so long as they are not abused.
• Prisoners must be granted clothing, food, water, shelter and safety. If the brig is no longer safe, confinement must be established in another location.
• Prisoners must be given access to legal counsel during an interrogation if requested and available.
• Prisoners must be given their shift mandated PDA after confinement has finished.
• Prisoners must be granted freedom of movement, and should not be restrained with handcuffs or other devices after incarceration unless there is an undue risk to life and limb. Similarly, any prisoners held for extended or permanent confinement should be held in the communal brig, and should not be confined to a solitary cell unless they pose a risk to life and limb.

Searches and Warrants

A personnel search is a seizure of the objects in a person's backpack, hands, coat, belt and pockets. If any contraband is found during a search the officer may choose to further the search into a detainment or simply confiscate the restricted items. After the search is conducted all legal items are to be returned to the person. A crewmate may legally decline any search conducted without a warrant while the alert level is green. Should be noted that if the alert level is blue or above all personnel searches are legal and no longer require a warrant.

A departmental search is the sweep of an entire area/department for contraband. It is recommended the officers are extremely thorough, checking all lockers, crates and doors. These can only be done with a warrant signed by the according department head or highest standing command staff (the captain in most cases).

A warrant is a signed document stating security may search a specific person or place. A warrant regarding a personnel requested by a normal officer may be approved by the captain, HoS or the department head of the person being search, however a warrant requested by the HoS can not be approved by themselves. Warrants for department sweeps may be signed off by the department's head or the highest ranking command staff. The process of writing a document may be disregarded IF the appropriate command member accompanies the officers throughout their search.

Sentencing

All sentencing is to be handled by the Warden, if no Warden is available the HoS is to take over that duty, if there's no HoS it falls onto the highest ranking command member.

All major punishments can be fought against by the accused in a court case. While court isn't necessary to follow through with the punishment, every prisoner being subject to a major punishment MUST be told their right to a trial. The prisoner may request their case be heard in court at any point during their sentence and it must be fulfilled (as long as there is an able lawyer present on the crew). If the trial does not end in their favor, security may proceed with their punishment and the prisoner can not request a second court hearing.

Normal Punishments

• Warning: For minor crimes, fix the issue then warn the person to not attempt the crime again, if they still proceed to do it at a later date, a brig time may be better.
• Confinement: The typical punishment, being confined in a cell for a temporary amount of time according to the crimes, not exceeding 20 minutes.
• Demotion: Entails removing all departmental gear they have on their person and revoking the involved department access off their ID. This requires the captain's or involved department head's approval.

Major Punishments

• Extended Confinement: Being confined in a cell for a temporary amount of time according to the crimes, exceeding 20 minutes.
• Permanent Confinement: Being held in the permanent brig for the entire duration of the shift. Any persons subject to this punishment are required to be transported in cuffs to CentCom at the end of the shift. A permanent prisoner can not be deprived of anything covered by the section "Treatment Of Prisoners".
• Execution: A humane way of dealing with extremely unruly crewmates. A prisoner who has been given the death sentence may pick how they wish to be killed, common methods are firing line, lethal injection, and high voltage electrocution. The remains are to be properly stored and transported to CentCom at the end of the shift. Execution can only be issued with the captain/acting captain's approval, if the HoS is acting captain or there is no acting captain, all heads of staff are to hold a vote on the matter.

Quick Crime Guide

I	II	III	IV	V
	Failure to Comply	Breach of Arrest	Breach of Custody
Possession: Substances	Possession: Gear	Possession: Weaponry
Petty Theft	Animal Cruelty	Grand Theft	Kidnapping
Vandalism	Damage of Property			Terrorism
Trespass		Secure Trespass
	Endangerment	Assault	Attempted Murder	Prevention of Revival
Disturbance	Rioting	Manslaughter	Murder	Mass Murder

Extended Crime Listing

I Degree

Offense	Description	Maximum Punishment	Notes
Disturbance	To cause a public disturbance.	4:00	Sometimes referred to as hooliganism. The catch-all for obnoxious crewmates. Covers things such as public nudity, needless insults and inciting crime or violence.
Petty Theft	To take non-vital or inexpensive property of another individual, organization, or common property, without consent.	4:00	The difference between petty theft and grand theft is based on how crucial the stolen item is, things like instruments, clothing and tools fall under petty theft. In most cases all you need to do is detain the thief, return the stolen item and let them go with a warning.
Possession/Use of Illegal Substances	To hold or abuse restricted drugs or chemicals.	3:00	This is to be followed in accordance with Standard Operating Procedure. If anything questionable is not brought up in SOP the captain or highest standing command staff may publicly restrict it.
Trespass	To enter a non-secured area without permission.	2:00	It's best to just remove them from the area unless this is a repeated crime.
Vandalism	To intentionally deface or superficially damage public or private property.	3:00	Painting graffiti, smashing bar glasses, and cracking internal windows is vandalism, breaking a window into space or secure areas is not.

• Minor crimes. Most of these a warning can suffice instead of an arrest.

II Degree

Offense	Description	Maximum Punishment	Notes
Animal Cruelty	To inflict unnecessary suffering or harm on a non-sapient being with malicious intent.	5:00	This doesn’t include legitimate and authorized animal testing and usually doesn't extend to vermin or creatures that could pose a threat to the station.
Damage/Destruction of Property	To maliciously damage or deface public or private property or equipment	6:00	Step up from vandalism but a step down from terrorism.
Endangerment	To recklessly put yourself or others in danger, either through direct action, or failure to act.	6:00	Covers industrial accidents, industrial negligence, self-experimentation, or even medical malpractice.
Failure to Comply	To resist reasonable orders given by an authority. This extends to warrants and authorized searches.	4:00	The order has to be reasonable and the person has to receive a good amount of warning before the arrest is issued.
Possession of Restricted Gear	To hold or use non-lethal items or objects that are restricted or illegal.	5:00	This is mostly for syndicate contraband; EMAGs, syndicate gas masks, bloodred hardsuits and bloodred magboots, however can sometimes extend to things the individual shouldn't possess like kevlar vests and security gear.
Rioting	To take part in a large group of personnel creating an unlawful public disturbance.	8:00	Crimes like damage of property or battery are expected to be thrown on top of this charge.

• Moderate crimes. Depending on the situation you may want to issue a warning instead of a detaining.

III Degree

Offense	Description	Maximum Punishment	Notes
Assault/Battery	To threaten to or to use physical force against someone without the intent to kill.	8:00	Attempted murder and battery are different, make sure you've got it right.
Breach of Arrest	To intentionally resist and flee arrest or detainment by an authorized staff.	6:00	This only applies if the person is actively being physically arrested. Includes people uncuffing or assisting others out of an arrest. Breach of custody is a separate crime.
Grand Theft	To take critical or unreplaceable property of another individual or organization without consent.	8:00	The difference between petty theft and grand theft is based on how crucial the stolen item is, this mostly is used for the theft of command staff items, things like door remotes, hardsuits, jetpacks, and unreplaceable machine parts.
Manslaughter	To incidentally kill a sapient being without intent.	12:00	Includes manslaughter in self-defense and negligent manslaughter.
Possession of Restricted Weaponry	To hold or use a weapon that is unlawful or contraband.	8:00	Everything from guns without a permit, deadly blades, explosives to syndicate firearms.
Secure Trespass	To enter a secured area without permission.	8:00	This covers places like telecomms, head offices, security zones, command areas, the vault and armory.

• Major crimes, times usually lasting around 8-14.

IV Degree

Offense	Description	Maximum Punishment	Notes
Attempted Murder	To make an attempt to use physical force against someone with the clear intent to kill.	12:00	Make sure you've got the proof to back up the intention claims.
Breach of Custody	To break out of a cell or custody with the intention of escaping.	Permanent	While rare, this charge can be bumped to an execution if the suspect has repeatedly attempted to break out of the permanent brig. Includes people breaking others out.
Kidnapping/Hostage Taking/Imprisonment	To unlawfully restrain, transport, or confine a sapient being against that individual’s will.	12:00
Murder	To kill a sapient being with malicious intent.	16:00	Intention is important.

• Extreme crimes, punishable by long or shift lasting sentences.

V Degree

Offense	Description	Maximum Punishment	Notes
Mass Murder	To kill three or more sapient beings with malicious intent.	Permanent	Only applies when there have been multiple killings with intention.
Prevention of Revival	To render a body unresurrectable.	Execution	This covers gibbing, spacing or other ways of preventing a body with a soul from being resurrected.
Terrorism	To engage in maliciously destructive actions which threaten to destroy, or successfully destroy a vessel or habitat.	Execution	Summed up; extreme sabotage of station systems or setting off self-destruction systems.

• Capital crimes that usually lead to a death sentence or shift lasting detainment.