The Law
Before a judge continues their street patrol or current investigation, they must sentence the perp to a period of time in the cubes. The arresting judge’s word is final for sentencing, subject to further evidence being uncovered at a later date and many crimes have variable sentences permitted, allowing a judge to use their own discretion and still remain within the Law. However, a judge who is consistently too harsh or too lenient may well be investigated themselves and disciplined.
The guide below may be used by players to determine a suitable sentence for any perp they arrest, be it time spent in an iso-cube, a credit fine (paid directly to the judge’s Sector House) or some other punishment. Players are free to consult this list at any time during play in order to access this guide, or they may make a Knowledge (law) check at DC 5 in order to recall a suitable sentence for any crime.
Exceptions to Sentencing
Criminal activity as the result of insanity: Indefinite psycho-cube observation until mental state is determined.
Homicidal or compulsive violent behaviour, psychotic or sociopathic tendencies: Indefinite psycho-cube incarceration with occasional behavioural modifying brain surgery.
Stress related violent outbursts (Future Shock Syndrome): Indefinite psycho-cube observation with counselling and rehabilitation.
Obsessive/compulsive non-violent criminal behaviour (kleptomania, spontaneous confession, 'petty crime' addiction): Iso-cube incarceration. A citizen completely unable to behave and conform will be sentenced to a compulsory frontal lobotomy.
Code 1: Homicide
Section Offence: Sentence
Premeditated murder of a judge during the execution of his duty: Life
Premeditated mass murder (spree or serial killing): 30 years - life
Premeditated murder: 15 years - Life
Prolonged abuse or neglect resulting in death: 8 - 40 years
Manslaughter (unlawful killing with no malicious intent, accidental or incidental death caused while involved in lesser category crimes): 8- 25 years
Code 2: Assault
Section Offence: Sentence
Assault of a judge resulting in actual or grievous bodily harm: 10 - 20 years
Assault of a citizen resulting in grievous bodily harm: 3 - 12 years
Assault of a citizen resulting in actual bodily harm: 1 - 8 years
Torture: 8 - 15 years
Assault with a deadly weapon: 6 months - 2 years
Common assault or brawling: 3 months - 2 years
Code 3: City Security
Section Offence: Sentence
Treason or espionage: Life
Any action likely to lead to city-wide death and destruction: Life
Collaboration with a hostile foreign power during wartime: Execution
Code 4: Robbery
Section Offence: Sentence
Armed robbery with violence: 18 years - Life
Armed robbery: 10 - 30 years
Hijacking: 8 - 20 years
Looting: 2 - 10 years
Tapping (mugging): 5 - 30 years
Wrecking: 10 - 25 years
Code 5: Burglary
Section Offence: Sentence
Burglary: 10 - 20 years
Breaking and Entering: 8 - 20 years
Possession of burglar’s equipment: 2 - 5 years
Trespass: 6 months - 2 years
Section Offence: Sentence
Shoplifting: 1 - 15 years
Dunking (pick-pocketing): 2 - 15 years Section Offence: Sentence
Theft (unless covered by Codes 4 or 5): 2 - 20 years
Dealing in stolen goods: 6 months - 5 years
Possession of stolen property: 3 months - 5 years
Code 7: Arson
Section Offence: Sentence
Setting fires with intent to cause death: Life
Setting fires with intent to damage property: 30 years - Life
Code 8: Medical And Scientific
Section Offence: Sentence
Practising medicine without license: 3 - 15 years
Illegal experimentation: 10 - 20 years
Unauthorised possession of controlled biological, chemical or mutagenic substances: 15 years - Life
Body Sharking: 15 - 30 years
Organ Legging: 15 - 30 years
Body-snatching: Life
Illegal bionic or cybernetic implants: 3 - 15 years
Illegal cloning: 5 - 20 years
Code 9: Criminal Damage
Expressions of pent-up rage, as well as general impatience with ineffective equipment, are treated swiftly and sternly. Of particular annoyance to the city and the Justice Department, is the act of GÇÿscrawling’ - tagging public spaces with painted graffiti. Following the Marlon GÇÿChopper’ Shakespeare affair, scrawling has diminished but occasionally flares again, usually in response to some perceived slight or social miscarriage.
Section Offence: Sentence
Robot Smashing: 5-15 years
Criminal Damage: 6 months-8/10 years
Vandalism: 3 months-6/8 years
Scrawling: 1 month-1 year
Code 10: Illegal Imprisonment & Abduction
The law is simple: abduct and imprison someone and you can expect to be imprisoned yourself. For all the lack of general liberty in Mega-City One, forcibly holding someone against their will (unless the Judges do it) is a major crime - as reflected in the sentencing.
One particularly abhorrent crime is the practice of Chump Dumping. Here, aliens are conned into visiting Earth (and Mega-City One) as tourists or refugees, paying extortionate sums to the runners who organise the passage. In deep space, the passenger pod of the spaceship is jettisoned, without life support, leaving the poor occupants to die alone whilst the perps pocket the transit fee. Chump Dumping tends to be controlled by the Mob gangs and other organised crime groups.
Section Offence: Sentence
Kidnap (abduction with ransom demand): 30 years-Life
Chump Dumping: 30 years-Life
Abduction: 15 years-Life
False imprisonment: 10-30 years
Hostage taking: 10-20 years
Incitement to kidnapping: 5-10 years
Code 11: Civic & Financial
Water-tight computerised accounting and financial regulation, in the wake of the infamous GÇÿCredit Crunch’ of the very early 21st Century, means that most major financial transactions are controlled by incorruptible AIs and computerised systems that do not know the meaning of greed and take the most sensible fiscal decisions based on long-term planning, calculated risk and close observance of previous recessions and depressions. That said, some citizens can get away with relatively low-levels of financial malfeasance, such as minor counts of tax evasion, but financial GÇÿwhite collar’ crimes tend to be few and far between.
Gambling, illegal in Mega-City One since its formation, falls into Code 11. But betting on the outcome of all manner of activities (rat fights, robot fights, dog fights, mutant fights, skyboard races, the vicious Mega-City 5000 bike race) still happens from slums, through shuggy halls to the penthouses of the rich and famous. The Mob controls a lot of illegal gambling through their devious GÇÿnumbers rackets’ but often gambling is ad-hoc and opportunistic. TV game shows are exempt from the gambling laws but only because extensive and complex charters exist to ensure that pure chance and controls on the sums waged are firmly in place.
Section Offence: Sentence
Bigamy: 1 year per count
Unlicensed adoption: 1 year per count
Gambling: 1-5 years
Tax Evasion: Cr. 5,000 fine-8 years
Blackmail: 2-30 years
Code 12: Technology
Any advances in technology leads to an exploitation of that technology for criminal ends, no matter what the safeguards. Most technology crime is covered under other codes, so Code 12 deals with certain specific crimes, such as tampering with robots, building WMDs and computer hacking. Deliberately planting aggression chips in robots, thereby breaking their conditioning to serve and obey humans, is viewed with special severity following the Robot Wars.
Section Offence: Sentence
Implanting aggression chips into robots: 5/15-20/30 years
Illegal possession or trading of war or assassin droids: 3-15 years
Unauthorised construction of weapons of mass destruction: 10 years-Life
Computer hacking: 3-18 years
Code 13: Public Order
Section Offence: Sentence
Participating in block war: 15 years - Life
Rioting: 3 - 15 years
Agitating or rabble rousing: 1 - 15 years
Obstruction: 3 months - 2 years
Unlawful assembly: 3 months - 1 year
Drunk and disorderly: compulsory rehabilitation - 2 years
Disorderly conduct: 6 months - 2 years
Code 14: Public Nuisance
Section Offence: Sentence
Boinging in public: 20 years
Low level or dangerous sky surfing/bat gliding: 3 months - 20 years
Peeping: 6 months - 2 years
Loitering: 6 months - 1 year
Littering: 100 credit fine or up to 6 months
Jaywalking: 3 months - 2 years
Begging: 1 - 12 months
Intentional wasting of Justice Department time: 3 months - 2 years
Unintentional wasting of Justice Department time: 1 month - 1 year
Incitement to crime: 1 - 12 months
Code 15: Traffic
Section Offence: Sentence
Driving under the influence of drink or drugs: 5 - 15 years, plus life ban
Dangerous driving: 2 - 15 years, plus life ban
Driving while banned: 1 - 5 years
Speeding, slow driving, lane weaving, light jumping: 5,000 credit fine or up to 2 years, plus ban of 5 - 20 years
Driving unroadworthy or dangerous vehicle: 1000 credit fine or up to 2 years
Parking violation: 1000 credit fine or up to 30 days
Code 16: Psi
Section Offence: Sentence
Knowing or premeditated use of a psionic or psychic ability to cause injury or death: 30 years - Life
Unauthorised use of psionic or psychic abilities: 5 - 15 years
Unregistered psionic or psychic abilities: 1 - 5 years
Code 17: Employment
Section Offence: Sentence
Employing citizens without a license: 1 - 5 years
Breach of health and safety regulations: 1,000 credit fine or up to 2 years
Moonlighting: 10 years per job
Employing robots in a human-specific task: 5 - 8 years
Employing humans in a robot-specific task: 5 - 8 years
Code 18: Fraud and Forgery
Section Offence: Sentence
Defrauding the Justice Department: 20 years - Life
Corporate fraud or embezzling: 10 - 30 years
Trading in fraudulent goods: 5 - 20 years
Counterfeiting or forgery of legal documents: 8 - 15 years
Forgery: 5 - 12 years
Possession of forging equipment: 3 - 9 years
Knowingly trading or possessing forged items: 2 - 8 years
Code 19: Impersonation and Deception
Section Offence: Sentence
Jimping (impersonation of a judge) with intent to commit crime: 10 - 20 years
Jimping for other reasons: 5 - 10 years
Unauthorised use of an image of a known judge: 1 - 5 years
Impersonation of a known criminal: 6 months - 2 years
Unauthorised impersonation of a celebrity or public figure: 3 months - 1 year
Unauthorised or prohibited face change surgery: 5 - 10 years
Unauthorised possession of face change equipment: 3 - 12 years
Code 20: Contraband
Section Offence: Sentence
Possession or manufacture of illegal substance with intent to trade: 5 - 30 years
Possession of illegal substance with intent to use: 1 - 5 years with compulsory rehab
Smuggling: 8 - 20 years
Illegal or unlicensed firearm: 6 months - 3 years
Umpty bagging: 5 - 30 years
Possession or trade of restricted publications: 1 - 8 years
Code 21: Genetic Purity
Section Offence: Sentence
Mutant DNA: Exile into Cursed Earth
Concealment of mutant: 1 - 5 years (or exile)
Code 22: Pollution
Section Offence: Sentence
Interfering with operation of Weather Control: 20 - 30 years
Creating atmospheric pollution: 5,000 credit fine or up to 2 years
Smoking in public: 3 months - 5 years
Noise annoyance: 2 months - 3 years
Code 23: Perverting the Course of Justice
Section Offence: Sentence
Resisting arrest: 5 - 8 years
Escaping from Justice Department custody or imprisonment: 10 - 20 years
Perp running (aiding an escape out of Mega-City One): 5 - 30 years
Perverting the course of Justice: 15 years - Life
Actual or attempted bribery of judge: 10 years
Bribery of a citizen: 2 - 10 years
Withholding evidence of a crime: 10 - 15 years
Perjury, lying to a judge or malicious accusation: 3 months - 5 years
Code 24: Secondary Offences
Section Offence: Sentence
Attempt to commit any category crime: 25 - 50% of sentence
Conspiracy to commit any category crime: 20 - 50% of sentence
Aiding and abetting a known criminal: 3 - 8 years
Withholding information about any crime: 2 - 15 years