Crime and Punishment: options for sentencing
Table of Contents
1. Introduction.............................2
2. Corporal Punishment......................3
3. Confinement..............................7
4. Special Punishment.......................10
1. Introduction
The current Asmodian criminal law system was established during the rise of Pandaemonium and has required few major changes since.
Punishment is divided mainly into corporal and confinement categories, though judges often order special punishments for specific cases.
'Corporal punishment' refers to harsh physical chastisement such as flogging, branding, forced transformation, and wing amputation.
'Confinement' refers to any deprivation of freedom, including forced labor, incarceration, and forced enlistment.
Special punishments range widely from fines (minor) to deportation from the Aetheric Field (heinous).
2. Corporal Punishment
Flogging
Common for slander, laying of curses, theft.
A light sentence for small crimes, with five severity levels from ten to fifty lashes. Judges also choose the weapon for the lashes based on severity.
Sentence is usually executed in an open public space.
During flogging, the convict may not wear armor, but is permitted clothing, as specified by the judge. If convicts cry out, they risk further strokes.
Branding
The purpose of branding is to identify the criminal publicly and indelibly for their crime.
Marks are applied in a location easily seen and difficult to cover up, such as the forehead.
Usually applied in the case of crimes with widespread random victims, or those that offend the common conscience.
For example, someone who violates public decency might be branded "Degenerate."
Forced Transformation
A punishment that both humiliates convicts and restrains their behavior.
The form chosen depends on the crime, its severity, and the place of commission. Most judges favor four-legged or crawling animals.
Ribbit form is particularly humiliating. Criminals often beg tearfully at sentencing for less severe punishment.
In rare cases, a convict's freedom of movement must be restrained. Judges then use an Ampha shape, removing the convict's teeth beforehand, of course.
Wing Amputation
Wing amputation is an ancient tradition from the earliest days of criminal law.
Since flight was much easier before the Cataclysm, amputation had a huge deterrent effect on major crimes.
Today, as Aether thins and our flying abilities diminish, its effectiveness decreases. However, wings are a Daeva's symbol, so their removal is still a major humiliation, in addition to disfigurement.
3. Confinement
Hard Labor
A convict may be confined in prison and forced to work for a set duration. Such punishment is appropriate for criminals with serious offenses but fair chance of reform.
If possible, convicts are assigned to demanding menial tasks, such as salt farming, or feeding forges.
Sentence often requires specific output, for example, to harvest 200 pounds of salt or turn out 60 steel ingots.
Floggings often accompany hard labor.
Confinement
Confinement serves to minimize a convict's influence on society by restricting contact, either by imprisonment or exile.
Accordingly, many ideological or political offenders are confined, especially those who ignore the will of the Shedim Lords or cause social upheaval.
Judges choose barren places with especially weak Aether such as wastelands, tundra, or distant islands for exiles.
Lesser offenders are usually confined by restricting their travel. Teleporters and flight transporters are notified of offenders' names to reduce possibility of transportation or teleportation services.
Forced Enlistment
Convicts enlisted as punishment for a crime generally serve a Legion in some undesirable location, usually a dangerous frontier territory or very harsh environment. In addition, uniform markings distinguish them from regular Legionaries.
Convicts often enlist to avoid physical labor. Many regret their choice once they reach their destinations.
This system has almost died out, owing to problems such as discrimination in supplies, low morale, and threat of rebellion.
4. Special Punishments
Fines
Monetary punishment for financial crimes and criminals, and the most common special punishment.
In a common bribery, both the administrator who received the bribe and the person who offered it pay fines.
In general, hard labor and fines are imposed together. Criminals pay ten times the bribe amount and perform physical work to atone for their crimes.
All fines collected go to assist the poor.
Deportation from the Aetheric Field
Even judges have been known to shudder at the mention of this terrible punishment.
A true death sentence, commonly used during the Millennium War for the worst offenses, but hardly known today.
All related records are classified, only declassified on unanimous agreement by all former and incumbent Shadow Judges.
Shadow Court regulations forbid even mentioning specific cases of deportation.