Bandorian criminal justice system

## Overview

The Bandorian criminal justice system has remained mostly unchanged from the original set of laws made in 2055 when its membership lists were made public. The Bandorian criminal justice system has been criticized severely by the leaders of the Asgardian Alliance, United Nations, and Alliance of Independent Settlements for its "harshness and cruelty". It has been praised by leaders of several Kroll sectors, and by the Union of Human Workers.

Despite criticisms of its harshness, the Protectorate's laws are remarkably relaxed in certain areas compared to the laws of other major human factions. There is no copyright law, as all published artistic creations are held under Protectorate law to be "the shared property of all citizens of the Protectorate". There are no laws governing what kinds of weapons citizens are allowed to possess, or laws preventing civilians from obtaining military sector weapons technology, with the exception of weapons technology developed exclusively by the Santonian Order, an auxiliary elite military organization of the Protectorate. However, some things that are held as basic points of operation in other factions are banned in the Protectorate; on 1 May 4650, the Protectorate made the transition to a moneyless society, using trading instead; before this transition, however, charging interest on loans or any other financial transactions was banned, and this was rated as a severe offense. Financial fraud, theft, traffic offenses, ingestion or injection of banned drugs, and assault were rated as minor offenses, while sexual assault, murder, looting, charging interest, terrorism, unauthorized contacting of aliens, trafficking of banned drugs, and dissemination of information harmful to the existence of the Protectorate were rated as severe offenses. Unlike other factions' criminal justice systems, the Protectorate's criminal justice system has no statute of limitations, not recognizing it as a valid legal principle.

The early system included many laws making various types of interactions with aliens illegal, as the Protectorate originally saw itself as "humanity's bulwark against the Terror", which meant that any aliens would be assumed to be hostile and the Protectorate would serve as a defense for the rest of humanity. After the formation of the Duskhan League many of these laws were relaxed or dispensed with entirely, as the Protectorate, now one of the dominant human powers, decided to try to approach alien contact from a diplomatic standpoint rather than sheer military force.

In the Protectorate criminal justice system, accused individuals are guaranteed legal representation free of charge. There are no judges, but rather a jury of 15 randomly selected individuals from the nearest inhabited settlements decide the innocence or guilt of the accused, after hearing all relevant evidence. The sentence, jury selection, and date the sentence is carried out are determined by the local government.

Minor offenses are generally punished by forced relocation and an erasure of the prisoner's recent memory, as well as removing their ability to contact all recently contacted individuals over comms networks and a prohibition on contacting them in person, with the exception of family members, legitimate employers, and legitimate business partners. The Protectorate generally prefers execution to imprisonment for major offenses, with some exceptions, notably rebellion. Most executions in the Protectorate, with the exception of shootings, take place on 9 October (Galactic Standard Time), which is called Execution Day.

## Bandorian execution methods

### Shooting

The most common method of execution in the Protectorate is by being shot in the back of the neck (brainstem) by an energy or kinetic weapon. The subject dies nearly instantaneously, and this is generally considered the most merciful form of execution. Shooting is also used by the AIS in cases that their government officials consider to require the death penalty, although they are more reluctant to recommend execution than Bandorian officials; the Asgardian Alliance's official policy is that they do not use the death penalty, although it has been proven that Asgardian forces have tortured and executed suspected Bandorian spies in the past. All military and former military members accused of crimes in the Protectorate who are sentenced to the death penalty receive this method of execution.

### Arena

Prisoners sentenced to death in this method are forced to fight in an arena against human and robotic opponents; these are designed specifically to be inescapable situations, and prisoners executed by this method are kept imprisoned until the next Execution Day, when they are released into the closest secure arena. The robots in this arena are all designed to cause maximum damage against human targets; the other human opponents in the arena are all other convicts who have been sentenced to this method of execution. The prisoners are given only melee weapons in the arena, as it is designed to be a mostly one-sided battle, with the robots easily capable of defeating all their human opponents. Some UN and Asgardian propagandists throughout history have stated that these executions are broadcast to the Bandorian general public as entertainment; in fact, only those affected by the crimes of the criminals being executed are given the option to watch these executions, and many even of these choose not to watch.

### Radiation

This method is considered the most cruel method of execution used by the Bandorians, and is typically reserved for those who have committed the worst offenses or prisoners from other factions. Like the arena method of execution, this method only takes place on Execution Days. It involves several stages. First, a special spacecraft is prepared in an orbital location; it is composed of two chambers: an inner chamber for the prisoners, which contains a rudimentary life support system, and an outer chamber, filled with radioactive waste. There is no radiation shielding either between the compartments or on the exterior hull of the spacecraft. On the next Execution Day after their sentencing, the prisoners sentenced to this method of execution are transported from the penal colonies where they have been kept until then to the orbital facilities where these spacecraft are constructed; they are placed aboard the spacecraft, which are then sealed and launched towards the system's star. Most prisoners die from intense radiation sickness before the spacecraft reaches the star, since it travels fairly slowly and takes several days, at the least, to reach the star from the launch facility.