DoJ consultation: Criminal Laws

[Peter]

Before taking office I began a review of Atlasian statute. One thing that struck me is the long list of statutes that are now used to define criminal offences or affect criminal justice in some way - see here.

Because the Acts defining offences were all passed at different times, they are subject to various different punishments that do not fit together in a coherent manner when our criminal justice is viewed as a whole.

There are presently the following offences:
- Impersonation of another forumer (1 year voting, 2 years office)
- Hacking another users account (1 year voting, 2 years office)
- Voter Fraud  (1 year voting, 2 years office)
- Posting pornography (2 month voting)
- Maliciously editting the Wiki (2 month voting)
- Posting off topic sexual topics (2 month voting)
- Impersonation of a cabinet officer (1 year voting, 2 years office)
- Rebellion (lifetime ban)
- Aiding a Rebellion (lifetime ban)
- Terrorism (lifetime ban)
- Deleting a voting booth (lifetime ban)
- Secession (lifetime ban)
- Refutation of supremacy of federal law (lifetime ban)
- Perjury (4 month voting, 8 month office)
- Campaigning for invalidation of votes (affects SoFE only in effect) (4 month voting, 2 month office)
- Contempt of Court (3 month voting, 6 month office)
- Voting Whilst Banned (3 month voting, 6 month office [voting ban is determined by a specific formula])

This is all over the place. I would like to propose a Felony grading system, and to do away with altogether the lifetime punishments - whilst I'm not a great fan of rebellions, they do serve a useful gameplay purpose and should not be punished by lifetime ban.

I would like feedback from anybody - I'll post my own thoughts in the next few days. Also, are there any new criminal offences that we ought to introduce?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I think 'Being Hamilton' ought to be a criminal offense.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Just curious - does deleting a voting booth apply to accidentally opening a booth early and deleting it and creating a new one at a proper time, or was that simply to protect from the malicious deleting of voting booths?

[Badger]

Before taking office I began a review of Atlasian statute. One thing that struck me is the long list of statutes that are now used to define criminal offences or affect criminal justice in some way - see here.

Because the Acts defining offences were all passed at different times, they are subject to various different punishments that do not fit together in a coherent manner when our criminal justice is viewed as a whole.

There are presently the following offences:
- Impersonation of another forumer (1 year voting, 2 years office)
- Hacking another users account (1 year voting, 2 years office)
- Voter Fraud  (1 year voting, 2 years office)
- Posting pornography (2 month voting)
- Maliciously editting the Wiki (2 month voting)
- Posting off topic sexual topics (2 month voting)
- Impersonation of a cabinet officer (1 year voting, 2 years office)
- Rebellion (lifetime ban)
- Aiding a Rebellion (lifetime ban)
- Terrorism (lifetime ban)
- Deleting a voting booth (lifetime ban)
- Secession (lifetime ban)
- Refutation of supremacy of federal law (lifetime ban)
- Perjury (4 month voting, 8 month office)
- Campaigning for invalidation of votes (affects SoFE only in effect) (4 month voting, 2 month office)
- Contempt of Court (3 month voting, 6 month office)
- Voting Whilst Banned (3 month voting, 6 month office [voting ban is determined by a specific formula])

This is all over the place. I would like to propose a Felony grading system, and to do away with altogether the lifetime punishments - whilst I'm not a great fan of rebellions, they do serve a useful gameplay purpose and should not be punished by lifetime ban.

I would like feedback from anybody - I'll post my own thoughts in the next few days. Also, are there any new criminal offences that we ought to introduce?

A felony grading system might be interesting, but probably unnecessary as we have less than 20 criminal statutes. Any undue variance in potential sentences among current offenses can be remedied without creating a felony grading system. I don't necessarily oppose a felony (and maybe misdemeanor?) grading system, but do question its worth.

I concur with Peter regarding lifetime sentences, or indeed any sentencing scheme that deprives the judiciary of flexability in sentencing or early termination of penalties. Perhaps these most serious offenses can allow a serious minimum and maximum sentence (e.g. 1-5 years), but also allow early termination of any sentence in excess of the minimum at the court's discretion (in lieu of creating an Atlasian Parole Board or the like). For example, a defendant convicted of an offense allowing a voting ban of 1-5 years is sentenced to  a 4 year ban. The sentence could be reconsidered upon the defendant's petition after the first year is served. If termination is then denied, the defendant could renew their petition again every (e.g.) 6 months or one year thereafter until either the balance of the sentence is terminated (or suspended for 'x' years good behavior) by court order or the full 4 year sentence is served.

[Purple State]

While I am undecided on the need for a felony system, I do think it would be beneficial to recalibrate sentences to be more proportional.

[Peter]

OK - there seems to be some agreement on the need for consolidation ( I certainly want fewer acts to need to consult), and the need for a proportional system of punishment. For the record, all the sentences listed were maximum - there are no minimum sentences on the books at present.

I would like to institute the criminal offences with maximum sentences as follows:

- Malicious wiki editting (2 month voting, 2 month office)
- Contempt of Court (2 month voting, 2 month office)
- Impersonation of any federal officer (2 month voting, 2 month office)
- Impersonation of a voter with the intention of changing their voter registration (2 month voting, 2 month office)
- Voting Whilst Banned (2 month voting, 2 month office [voting ban is determined by a specific formula])
- Perjury (6 month voting, 6 month office)
- Campaigning for invalidation of votes whilst SoFE or similar (6 month voting, 6 month office)
- Voter Fraud, without disclosure of a new account, and without casting a vote (6 month voting, 6 month office)
- Rebellion against the federal govt (6 month voting, 6 month office)
- Aiding a rebellion against the federal govt (6 month voting, 6 month office)
- Secession/Attempted secession from the federal govt (6 motnh voting, 6 month office)
- Refutation of supremacy of federal law/disobedience of Supreme Court decision (6 month voting, 6 month office)
- Committing terorist acts whilst in rebellion (12 month voting, 24 month office)
- Voter Fraud, without disclosure of a new account, and with the casting of a vote (12 month voting, 24 month office)
- Hacking another user's account with the intention of gaining advantage of any kind in Atlasia (12 month voting, 24 month office)
- Hacking another user's account to delete a voting booth, or with the intention of deleting a voting booth (lifetime ban from all aspects of Atlasia)
OK - I've changed a few things - first of all I've removed criminal prohibitions on posting pornography and sexual discussion - these seem adequately covered with the present system of moderation.

I've split voter fraud into two categories - if a vote is cast, the offence is more serious. Impersonating a cabinet official has been expanded to any federal officer. I would also want a statutory guarantee that you cannot be tried for rebellion and aiding a rebellion for the same offence.

Feedback, as always, welcome.

[Sam Spade]

One of the more interesting questions the court has never had to address is whether criminal punishment for posting pornography or "discussions of a sexual nature" is constitutional.

[Purple State]

A few things on your proposal Peter:

What is "Committing terrorist acts whilst in rebellion (12 month voting, 24 month office)"?

Why is there a discrepancy between intent on hacking an account? I assume it is because we prize elections above all else in this game, but if someone hacks the account of another user, it seems fairly proper to remove that person from the game, whether it was to gain material advantage or to delete a voting booth.

For rebellion, aiding a rebellion and secession, my personal sense is that the maximum ban from office-holding should be longer than the maximum ban from voting. Maybe a 3/6 setup. Not sure how others feel about that.

[Peter]

What is "Committing terrorist acts whilst in rebellion (12 month voting, 24 month office)"?

Apologies for letting this drop. To be fair - probably not really possible in Atlasia. Might as well be removed.

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Xahar definitely hacked an account for Atlasian gain - his actions were stupid and irresponsible in the extreme. He deserved to be punished, and was. However, he repented, and I think also we have to take into account his lack of maturity at the time, thus a lifetime maximum hasn't been put on the cards, though I'm happy to change the draft if the Senate so desires.

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I'll write that in to start with and leave it for the Senate to make changes back if it wants.