Ethics Committee

The Ethics Committee (EC) is a small civil department of the Foundation. The primary purpose is to enforce and adjudicate the laws, policies, regulations, rules, mandates, and any order of the Foundation (i.e. Foundation Code). The committee is also the primary collaborator and reviewer of separate departments and regulations when regarding any Foundation law, policy, regulation, rule, or mandate.  The committee is split into two offices: the Criminal Review Board, and the Judicial Review Board. Each office has a distinct and well-defined purpose. The Ethics Committee is often seen as a poor joke by some people, but in reality, holds a great deal of power within the Foundation.
To join the Committee, you must pass an interest form that is posted in #personnel_news whenever the command team deems it necessary. Afterwards, you must pass an interview and then the intern process.
== Offices ==
=== Judicial Duties & The Criminal Review Board ===
The Code of Ethics and its entries are enforced by the Ethics Committee, the Internal Security Service, and the O5 Council. However, EC is the primary judicial authority. Upon the reporting of a law-breaker (usually by MP), EC will review all hard evidence of the crime. Then, the EC will decide the punishment pursuant to the Foundation Code (FC). The FC lists all crimes and the punishment for said crimes. The Ethics Committee, while investigating any offense or violation, may request any information from the offender’s department should it be prudent to the case. While investigating any offense or violation, EC must also document any and all information prudent to the case.
* All cases resulting in a Class-E sentence or higher, can be found in #crb_cases in the EC server.
* You may report someone via the Report a Violation ticket under the Ethics Committee Support section of the Support Server.
==== Punishments ====
The punishment for a case is decided by the severity of the charges involved, with the most severe charge taking precedence as per Section 2 § 3 (Grouping Offenses) of the Foundation Code. 
===== Punishment types: =====
* Formal Warning 
** Written and permanent warning for doing a minor illegal action.
* Class - E Sentence
** A temporary suspension locking you to the in game Class-E team. A suspension will usually also result in departmental action, depending on severity.
* Foundation Dismissal
** Immediate exile from all groups, and a 25 day Class-E Suspension followed by a 2 month app-block. Following the appblock, the Defendant may rejoin the Foundation freely.
* Exile
** Immediate exile from all groups, and an indefinite appblock. The only way to rejoin the Foundation after an Exile is to appeal it, or have it expunged. 
* Blacklist
** An immediate ban from all Foundation servers, games, and groups. Rarely issued. The only way to rejoin the Foundation after a Blacklist is to appeal it, or have it expunged.
=== Appeal Duties & The Judicial Review Board ===
The Ethics Committee also has the purpose of hearing and deciding on any and all appeals regarding the Foundation or department when a punishment of any kind is involved. The Ethics Committee is the primary appellate agency within the Foundation. 
The Ethics Committee also has the purpose of hearing departmental appeals. The Ethics Committee may only hear appeals for departmental punishments if the defendant’s appeal was denied when appealing to that respective department’s representative. The Ethics Committee has the authority to overturn any departmental punishment if the punishment issued has been deemed incorrect or inconsistent. 
* Appeals can be made via the Judicial Inquiry ticket under the Ethics Committee Support section of the Support Server. 
== Decommissioned Offices ==
=== Trial Court ===
The Ethics Committee Trial Court, is a decommissioned court that was established by the Rules of Civil Procedure. The court dealt with civil matters - situations, where a person harms someone else without harming the interests of the foundation. Civil matters were usually dealt with by providing relief to the victim, whether in the form of credits, an injunction (e.g. a restraining order), or something else. Civil matters were dealt with either by bench or jury trials, depending on the complexity of the matter and the discretion of the court and the parties. Legal services within civil matters, including representation and consultation are provided by the Criminal Review Board.
The Trial Court existed with a set of judges and lawyers who would defend and prosecute members of the Foundation. They would mostly base of the Rules of Civil Procedure during court cases. The Trial Court was led by Winter_Selection, who was a Committee Member at the time, later becoming the Committee Director.
The court system could have been accessed in #file_an_inquiry in the EC server, where you could open your case and get a legal representative. Due to this system, SC-1+ personnel could no longer face criminal charges for trivial offenses with only one person as a victim (e.g. assault, vehicle theft, etc.) Instead, the victim could file a civil complaint seeking compensation (such as in-game credits). However, criminal charges will still be issued if:
*You were not SC-1+;
*The offense also affected foundation interests (e.g. shooting a firearm without a proper reason or stealing an armed Humvee are still crimes);
*Your conduct disturbed site peace (e.g. you go around punching everyone); or
*Your conduct interfered with official duties (e.g. attacking a combative, interfering with a test, etc.).
===== Attorney Coordination Council =====
The Attorney Coordination Council (ACC) was a body of able legal representatives under the Trial Court, who managed and oversaw these legal representatives. The ACC was responsible for the certification, management, and assignment of attorneys. The ACC worked with the Ethics Committee Trial Court to have sufficient manpower to handle cases. This council had the final goal of being almost wholly personnel-run, with administration, legal representation, and assignment all handled by outside personnel, free from management by the Ethics Committee.
=== Internal Security Review Board ===
The Internal Security Review Board (ISRB) was a proposed office who would be in charge of major appeals. Board members were going to vote on major appeals that would normally go to ISS and have access to the ISS appeal system. ISRB was never implemented.
=== Office of The Ethics Overseer ===
The Office of The Ethics Overseer (OOTEO) was a tiny division responsible for easing the workload of the Ethics Committee Overseer, very similar to OOTA or OOTOF. OOTEO was usually comprised of only one or two people. OOTEO members were in charge of doing menial tasks like organizing plans, planning events, etc. Nearly all of OOTEOs work was behind-the-scenes and classified. OOTEO was founded on 10/20/21, decommissioned on 1/15/22, and recommissioned on 10/22/22, and handed ownership to Chedleee for Pathos' revival. When Chedleee discharged, it was never used again.
== Adjudicative Powers ==
The Ethics Committee has the authority to adjudicate any departmental matters should the Ethics Committee deem that the department command team cannot render a valid and appropriate punishment fitting for the crime. 
The Ethics Committee has the authority to issue departmental punishments in place for foundation-wide punishments should the Ethics Committee deem that a department punishment is more appropriate. 
== Command History ==
== Postshutdown Application History ==
* 10 Sep 2024
* 7 Jun 2024
* 10 Apr 2024
* 13 Feb 2024
* 15 Oct 2023
* 17 Jul 2023
* 17 Apr 2023
* 20 Jan 2023
== Important Documentation ==
* EC Server
* Foundation Code
* Foundation Code Sheet
* Site Access Regulations
* Hostage Regulations
* [OLD] Hostage Regulations
* Protocol Regulation
* Rules of Civil Procedure
* JRB Trello
* [DECOMMISIONED] JRB Procedures
== Notes ==
* EC members can see and talk in Combative Chat (/cc) even on the FP team. 
* EC works heavily with the Military Police (MP) and the Internal Security Service (ISS)
* The Judicial Review Board was formerly called the Appellate Review Board.
* EC members get a Blackcard, one of the variants of the on-site keycards. This allows them to access any area of the site, even off team.
* From the perspective of game design, EC serves to enforce roleplay and keep a realistic experience.
Category:Team