Capital Crimes and Misuse of Power

[Temi]

From Kinaed:

Staff have met to discuss this Staff Talking point, and we have decided to, for now, update the execution POLCA. It will now:
- Have a definition of the crime posted to the person filling in the POLCA
- Set the title of the IC Event to make it clear to all pbase members which crime the accused is being publicly accused of

We hope just adding this to the POLCA will help the people using the Execute command be aware of theme, and putting it on display on the IC Event board should help the pbase at large hold the executioner accountable thematically - without staff involvement.

We think this should be enough to resolve the issue in the near term.

[Starstarfish]

At present help crime defines only two crimes as capital crimes: Murder and Treason.

Will the POLCA allow other things as options (which arguably then might be an abuse of power) and if so, should that helpfile be updated accordingly?

[Temi]

We're only allowing them to select the actual capital offenses from the helpfile - Murder, Treason, Magery, Heresy. This will be listed as the public reason for execution, and we'll add notes to the helpfile that these do not need to be true or believed by the executioner - just the official, public reason has to be a capital offense.

[AlwaysShunny]

If I recall correctly, being part of the Brotherhood was counted as a capital crime.

[Taunya]

Brotherhood membership counts as criminal involvement, which is not a capital crime. It's actually relatively recent history that membership is considered a crime at all.

[Geras]

If I recall correctly, being part of the Brotherhood was counted as a capital crime.

The helpfiles explicitly say it isn't.

[AlwaysShunny]

The last time I recall Brotherhood members being captured by the Reeves (back in 2014-15, mind you) I remember it being a capital offense to even be in the guild.

As in you would be executed no matter what. Being Tenebrae was certain death if caught by the law. Saw it happen to a few characters, but it’s entirely possible I’m remembering wrong or that there were more factors in play than I was aware of.

[Geras]

The last time I recall Brotherhood members being captured by the Reeves (back in 2014-15, mind you) I remember it being a capital offense to even be in the guild.

As in you would be executed no matter what. Being Tenebrae was certain death if caught by the law. Saw it happen to a few characters, but it’s entirely possible I’m remembering wrong or that there were more factors in play than I was aware of.

You're not remembering wrong. It's just changed back and forth over time. Right now the helpfile explicitly says its a crime but not a capital one. I wasn't aware of the file until the imms pointed me to it though.

[Starstarfish]

Free admission, I'm a highly biased input on this topic.

That said, I think whatever the decision is about the thematic expectation on capital offenses (which staff have now decided on, or reinforced) - the helpfiles (OOC info) and information available ICly (posts at Cityguard, etc) to the general public and people in authority need to all be in alignment.

All that said, IMHO requiring a public trial for capital criminal cases should be a matter of social expectation and would go along with the updated/clarified policy about captors providing RP to prisoners. That would not completely remove abuses of power, however, it will guarantee that if an arrest is going to lead to the death of a PC there would be a minimum level of RP that the condemned would receive. It also invites the public to be more involved and knowledgeable to be able to judge abuses of power.

[Zeita]

I'm of the general opinion that abuse of power, or at least the temptation of it, are baked into the theme. I've certainly used positions of power and influence in the past to take action against IC enemies or rivals.

That said, if it is egregious or too obvious, then I do think that the world should react. Typically, TI relies on other player characters with counterbalancing power to stand up and take action. This, however , is not always something they're inclined to do for a variety of reasons (collusion, blackmail, fear, disinterest, lack of understanding of the theme etc). For this reason, I'm happy if staff want to take on the role of the world to act as a tempering influence, either through tightening of policy or the levers of Monarch, Synod and the masses.