Space Law

Space Law is a broad set of rules and regulations, collected and regulated by TerraGov, enacted and enforced by NanoTrasen and its Station Security, with the oversight of CentCom - and, on occasion, TerraGov's Galactic Police Force. Space Law applies to all ranks and positions on stations under its jurisdiction, from the lowliest Assistant to the highest Captain; all are equal under the eyes of the Law, and all must ultimately answer to it.

It is highly recommended to read the Standard Operating Procedures and specifically the following parts:

• Jurisdiction
• Pressing Charges
• Sentencing
• Trial Procedures
• Treatment of Prisoners
• Paroles and Pardons
• Synthetics and Sophonts

Sentences

Capital

• Execution: Termination of the convict’s life.

• Whenever any execution is performed, regardless of trial or not, a general announcement must be made detailing who was executed and for what reason.
• The convict may select from one of four methods of execution, depending on availability: firing squad, lethal injection, electric shock, or asphyxiation. If the convict does not make a choice after being given ample opportunity, the sentencing officer or other relevant authority may select the method that is most appropriate. Convicts may request alternate methods of execution that may be approved or denied at the discretion of the individual passing the sentence.
• The executed’s corpse must be burned, stored in the morgue, or processed by medical staff using the biomass reclaimer.

• Exfiltration: Immediate retrieval of the convict via a CentComm, or GALPOL, dispatched transport.

• The prisoner may be held in a temporary cell until the transport arrives.
• If a transport cannot be arranged, default to other capital sentences.

• Preservative Stasis: Relocation of the convict into a morgue or similar controlled and regulated environment until one’s sentence is concluded or the legal system can accommodate the convict.
• Decorporealisation: Stripping the convict’s mind from their body into a more restricting form.

• Soul crystals, golems, and cyborgs are all permissible forms.

• Permanent Brig, Permabrig, or Extended Confinement: Placing the convict into the permanent brig until the end of the shift, where they are to be transported to Central Command for processing.

• The convict has the same rights as any other prisoner within the permabrig, whether they arrived by transport or were sentenced to Extended confinement.

Standard

• Brigging: Placing the convict into a temporary holding cell. See Treatment of Prisoners (SOP).
• Catch & Release: Taking the convict to Security, processing them, searching them, and then releasing them. See Jurisdiction (SOP).
• Demotion: Downgrading the convict’s employment contract and revoking their access accordingly, with permission from or when ordered by the convict’s head of department. May be applied when the convict has committed a crime relating to their employment within their department or with NanoTrasen as a whole. See Conduct Unbecoming (Company Policy).
• Licence restriction: Downgrading or suspending the convict’s armament licence and confiscating possessions accordingly. May be applied when the convict is guilty of possession or a crime involving a weapon they were lawfully permitted to carry.
• Mindbreaking: Removal of the convict’s psionic power by use of mindbreaker toxin or any other means. May be applied when the convict is guilty of a crime in which they use psionics.

Crime Modifiers

Sentencing modifiers are to be applied by the sentencing officer, judge, or arbiter. Aggravating modifiers may not extend a sentence beyond the specified limit, while extenuating modifiers may not reduce a sentence below the specified limit.

Aggravating

• Solicitation

  Any sophont found guilty of encouraging, bribing, requesting, or instructing someone to commit a crime, with the intent that the sophont being solicited commit the crime, will receive for the crimes they solicited in full.

• Accessory

  Any sophont found guilty of assisting in the commission of a crime, without participating in the crime itself, knowing that a crime will be, has been, or is being committed, will receive the sentence for the crimes in which they took part in full.

• Attempts

  Any sophont found guilty of attempting to commit a crime, with the intent to carry out that crime, will receive the sentence for the crimes they attempted in full.

• Conspiracy

  Any sophont found guilty of planning to commit a crime, with the intent to carry out that crime eventually, and having committed an overt act pursuant to that end, will receive the sentence for the crimes they conspired towards in full.

• Deadly weapon

  Any sophont found guilty of committing a crime, utilising any object used offensively for the purpose of inflicting mortal or great bodily harm, will receive an additional modifier of, at most, 150% of the original sentence.

• Aggravation

  Any sophont found guilty of committing a crime with reckless abandon, evident signs of lack of regret or remorse, or blatant disregard for potential collateral damage, will receive an additional modifier of, at most, 150% of the original sentence.

• Discriminatory intent

  Any sophont found guilty of committing a crime based fully or in part based on the victim or affected party’s appearance, gender, psionics, religion, ability/disability, place of origin or habitation, culture, or other immutable feature or quality, will receive an additional modifier of, at most, 150% of the original sentence.

• Recidivism

  Any sophont convicted of the same criminal charge multiple times within one shift will receive an additional modifier of, at most, 200% of the original sentence.

Extenuating

• Cooperation

  Any sophont who shares actionable intelligence with the authorities, turns oneself in, testifies against accomplices, confesses to their crime, or otherwise aids the prosecution, may have their sentence reduced to no less than 50% of the original sentence.

• Dire Emergency

  Any sophont found to have committed a crime in the process of absolutely necessary and reasonable actions, taken with the intent to resolve or mitigate the effects of a dire emergency on one’s vessel or habitat, may have their sentence reduced by any amount, or completely waived.

• Self-Defence

  Any sophont found to have committed a crime or crimes in protection of oneself or another, and only to the necessary extent to avert a direct and imminent threat to the health and life of innocent persons, may have their sentence reduced by any amount, or completely waived.

• Good Behaviour

  Any convict who peacefully complies with the authorities, displays clear signs of remorse concerning the committed crime, and/or conducts themselves peacefully while imprisoned, may be paroled as outlined in the Standard Operating Procedures.

Crimes

Capital Crimes

Name	Time	Description
Murder	Capital	To kill a sophont with malicious intent and premeditation.
Decorporealisation	Capital	To unlawfully, maliciously, and permanently strip a sophont’s mind from their body.
Terrorism	Capital	To commit an act with the intent to cause injury or death, or to take hostages, in order to provoke a state of terror in, intimidate, or compel a group of sophonts to do or to abstain from doing any act.
Grand Sabotage	Capital	To engage in malicious actions that directly or indirectly make uninhabitable or inoperable a vessel or its part, or irreversibly modify and/or damage technology one is not authorised to access, causing severe bodily harm or death to multiple sophonts.
Kidnapping	Capital	To unlawfully confine or restrict the free movement of a sophont against their will.
Sedition	Capital	To act to overthrow a lawfully established Chain of Command or governing body without lawful or legitimate cause.
Sexual Harassment	Capital	To sexually harass, attempt to coerce into sexual relations, or effect unwanted sexual contact with an unwilling sophont.

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Felonies

Name	Time	Description
Manslaughter	8 minutes	To effect violence upon a sophont, resulting in their death, without the apparent intent to kill them.
Grand Theft	8 minutes	To unlawfully take highly restricted, dangerous, valuable, or highly sensitive property or items without consent.
Black Marketeering	6 minutes	To sell, distribute, or otherwise circulate restricted items or substances to unauthorised sophonts or entities.
Sabotage	6 minutes	To engage in malicious actions that directly or indirectly hinder the operation of a vessel or its part, modify and/or damage technology one is not authorised to access, or endanger multiple sophonts.
Mindbreaking	5 minutes	To unlawfully and maliciously rid a psionic sophont of their powers.
Assault	5 minutes	To cause physical harm or to effect unwanted physical contact on a sophont, without the apparent intent to kill them, or to threaten such actions with both capability and intent to do so.
Abuse of Power	5 minutes	To intentionally misuse or wrongfully exercise one’s own authority, influence, or control, resulting in harm, unjust treatment, or demonstrable loss to a separate party due to violation of ethical and professional standards.
Possession	Up to 5 minutes	To be in unauthorised possession of restricted items or items of particular danger. See Controlled Substances/Items, Controlled Armaments.
Endangerment	4 minutes	To recklessly abandon obligations involving the continued wellbeing and/or protection of life and property, through malpractice, action, or inaction.
Breaking and Entering	4 minutes	To break and enter into a high security area where one is not authorised nor invited, with intent to commit a crime within.
Rioting	4 minutes	To partake in an unauthorised riotous, tumultuous, and disruptive public assembly that refuses to disperse after warning.
Contempt of Court	4 minutes	To conduct oneself disruptively and disrespectfully before the court.
Perjury or False Report	3 minutes	To wilfully and maliciously tell an untruth either in court or in the process of making an actionable report to law enforcement.
Obstruction of Justice	2 minutes	To wilfully disobey, interfere with, or refuse a decree of the court, warrant, or arrest.

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Misdemeanours

Name	Time	Description
Animal Cruelty	3 minutes	To inflict unnecessary suffering on a sapient being with malicious intent.
Trespass	2 minutes	To enter into an area where one is not authorised nor invited.
Theft	2 minutes	To unlawfully take property or items without consent.
Vandalism	2 minutes	To deface or superficially damage public property, or property belonging to another person.
Hooliganism	As necessary	To intentionally and maliciously engage in disruptive conduct, where one refuses to cease.