[VIDEO]

[thedreamisdead]

[The hardest decision with this video was helmet on or helmet off. She decides helmet on. These people don't know who the Judges are, the impact would be lost, but there's no point in appearing too friendly early on. She might like them, they might like her, but early impressions were the longest lasting. As it said in Comportment, "Give me the juve..."

The video snaps on with America in her quarters. It's rather cold and sterile, she hasn't decorated or anything.]

Good evening. I won't take up much of your time, I'm sure you've got other things to do tonight. I'm America Beeny. I'd prefer to be addressed as Judge Beeny. I know the title doesn't mean much to you, so let me explain it this way; in my world, Justice Department personnel are the sole representatives of what was once America's justice system. The country, not me. [A ghost of a smile crosses her lips.] Think of us as justice unimpeded by the corruption and fallacies of courtroom dramas.

As for my credentials, the average Cadet spends fifteen years in the Academy of Law before earning their full eagle. I graduated after eleven. I've spent nine years on the streets, survived an extradimensional incursion, had an extended tour of duty in the Cursed Earth, and lived through the worst biological attack in recorded memory. I've trained deputies and militias in the Cursed Earth townships and I'm a member of the Council of Five, the main lawmakers for Mega-City One. If there's anyone who needs help with some aspect of training, I'm sure I can lend a hand. Feel free to ask.

Upon arrival here, I found that, among other things, I'd gained laser vision and the ability to generate explosions. So there's that. I look forward to working with you people and seeing alternative justice systems. If there are any questions, feel free to ask.

[She seems to have run out of things to say. There's a pause, then she slowly raises her left hand and pops the last bit of what appears to be a cheeseburger into her mouth. Chewing, she reaches out and shuts off the camera.]

Comments

voice

[iamresponding]

"Justice unimpeded by the corruption and fallacies of courtroom dramas."

Summary justice isn't exactly something to talk about as ideal.

[He doesn't drop his title or talk about his experience. Not yet. When it comes to talkig about sentient rights, he shouldn't have to. Certain things should be a given, and he shouldn't have to identify himself as someone who's been recognized as having the jurisdiction to commit acts of summary justice in multiple star systems.]

Individual people can be just as corrupt as the courts and there's no way they can act in ways that are less corrupt without self-awareness of that fact.

[He suddenly realizes he hasn't even so much as given his name and wiggles robotic fingers hello.]

I'm Rich. By the way. I also go by Nova Prime.

[Voice]

[thedreamisdead]

A pleasure to meet you.

I'll admit, it's not perfect. It is, however, a damned sight more efficient and less prone to corruption than a trial by jury. I've seen those in action.

[She'd had to put them into practice in the townships, due to a lack of Judges. Another of Sinfield's little games. Honestly, she couldn't help but see the flaws.]

Which would you hold more reliable? Someone who's been through fifteen years of education and training to view crimes and criminals objectively, or someone who's easily swayed by a silver tongue, threats to their family, or a promise of a better life?

Judges have no family except each other. Biological families give us to the Academy when we're children. We don't get paid. We don't have private property. We work twenty-three hours a day, with fifteen minutes in sleep machines. Of the tens of thousands of Judges who are on active duty, there are maybe a few hundred corrupt ones. And keeping track of them falls to the SJS.

[Her tone, during all this, sounds perfectly pleasant, if on the neutral side. She even manages to keep any trace of derisiveness out of her voice when talking about trial-by-jury.]

I'm a dummy, pretend I said video. That's what I meant originally.

[iamresponding]

[It all sounds...painfully familiar, in some ways. Working 23 hours a day (he's done longer), having no attachments (at least not up in space). Hell, she's probably got more training than he's got. Most of his experience as Nova Prime has been borrowed, via the Worldmind's vast resources.]

[But the state of things back home was because galactic society had all but collapsed. It's a stop-gap, and even now, the tribunals are already back up and running. He only has to treat it like frontier law enforcement in certain places and in certain situations.]

[It works because it has to work -- it works because of him and his own morality. It doesn't work because it actually works. God save the universe if someone corrupt had gotten the Nova Force.]

One person can still be wrong, despite all the training and education in the world. And a jury-by-peer system ain't the only option, if a society's too broken for that to work.

Whoops

[thedreamisdead]

It's not like appeals aren't an option. Or that we don't do investigations.

[She leans back in her seat, waving a hand. Relaxing a little.]

Sure, if we catch you in the act of mugging someone and you're smart enough not to resist arrest, we're going to give you ten to thirty years in the cubes. But if it comes down to something where there are no witnesses, then we're looking at pulling in resources from PSU, that's Public Surveillance Unit, the Tek-Division, possibly even Psi-Division. After all that, we're usually pretty certain that we've got the right person.

[Were there other options? Well, that's one thing she'd be interested in seeing and experiencing.]

Any jury system is suspect. At least, I'm assuming you mean hiring people to act as jurors or using only specialists. If not, well. [She laughs, politely though.] Mega-City One isn't so far gone that we need trial by ordeal. And a single judge system or a team of judges is, well. What we have now.

[iamresponding]

A team's better. I mean, a team of trained legal professionals is...that's a justice system. That's understandable. But leaving sentencing to just one person, well-trained or not, is-- wait, whoa.

Ten to thirty for a mugging? Are we talking first offense here?

[thedreamisdead]

The Justice System [Not a justice system, The Justice System.] saves a lot more time and resources. When the standards were first introduced, we had a population of nearly a billion people in Mega-City One alone. Even if we only had a five percent crime rate, the courts would be overflowing and the teams overworked. Of course, after the Atom War, the Apocalypse War, and the Day of Chaos, we're now down to 87 million, but we'd still be looking at a problem of numbers.

[She shrugs at his bafflement.]

Depends. Tapping starts at five, with a maximum of fifteen. Once you start bringing a weapon into play, you're looking at ten to thirty. Grud help you if you actually decide to rough the cit up. Then you're looking at ARV, which is eighteen to life and I could add in assault, possibly adding time for murder or manslaughter, depending on how the victim ends up...

...Well, these things add up. For the second offense, we'd just add half again the original sentence. By the time they get out then, they're usually not in the shape for a third.

[ringslinging]

Well, since Rich beat me to the philosophical questions -

[ And you better believe he's paying attention to that line of questioning, but it's not the only thing he's wondering. ]

Come on, you can't just say "among other things" and not tell us what else you've got.

Hal Jordan, by the way. Or Green Lantern. Welcome aboard.

[thedreamisdead]

Green Lantern? Hm. Thank you.

[She'll just have to look up his powers, then.]

Creation of organic material. The tech division calls it... Ugh.

Meat vision.

[voice]

[walkingballpit]

[ Just wall-to-wall sarcasm. Like Willy Wonka and Jon Stewart had a baby. ]

Oh good, someone beat me to the quote.

One person making all the bad decisions is so much better than everyone making the bad ideas together!

Even my dad didn't want to completely get rid of defense attorneys.

Re: [voice]

[thedreamisdead]

That's precisely why we attend the Academy of Law, to avoid 'bad decisions'.

[voice]

[walkingballpit]

No one avoids bad decisions.

[thedreamisdead]

I won't say that the wrong conclusion isn't reached from time to time, but it's not like we just walk in and go "He was nearby, he did it." Forensics technology exists for a reason.

Or have they not invented that back where you're from?

[walkingballpit]

Forensics exists when I'm from.

Mistakes are still made, because no one can get away from being human.

[rushing_by]

I'm a CSI. I can definitely confirm this. Even when we don't make mistakes, forensic science isn't perfect, and I doubt that's changed much.

Even ignoring that, it's not just that you get to decide guilt. I've been around enough beat cops and detectives to know letting them pass sentence would be a terrible idea.

[thedreamisdead]

Mistakes are still made, I'll grant you, but they are a rarity. Someone who was prone to making them would never make it through the Academy.

[And then there are some Judges, like Rico and Dredd, who'd argue that Judges aren't human anymore. There's something sad about that line of thought, she thinks.]

[thedreamisdead]

No offense, but are you really comfortable about claiming it hasn't changed much when you don't know what year I'm from or what our level of technology is like?

Putting aside comparing me to a police officer, [And, oh, that's actual disdain creeping into her voice there.] the law dictates sentencing. It's not like I can point at an addict and sentence them to five years hard labor.

Being too harsh or too lenient on sentencing is cause for investigation by the SJS. It just sounds like corruption.

[walkingballpit]

[ Robbie will... reserve further judgment on that. Ha! ]

You know that we don't do the legal side of things, right? Strictly a superhero squad. Protect and serve. Calling you "Judge" is going to confuse things.

[thedreamisdead]

I'm aware of that. I'm interested in studying how these people handle the legal side of things. That said, it's a title I've earned. Would you tell a doctor that they couldn't call themselves "Doctor" because we "don't do the medical side of things"?

video

[captainbuzzkill]

[After his talk with Pidge, he's been feeling a little better about everything.]

I'm not sure why everyone else is freaking out over a possible timeline where there's totalitarian rule, but hey, I'm from a world doomed to a totalitarian future ruled by a giant cosmic baby.

So, whatever.

Hi, I'm Dipper. Welcome to the team.

[thedreamisdead]

Tell me his name isn't Owen Krysler.

[captainbuzzkill]

Nah, just "Time Baby."

So, as long as you guys don't have that, and don't have gladiatorial combat that exists as an opiate for the masses, where innocents can be challenged to fight and the losers can be wiped out of existence, good for you guys.

[His 'Good Possible Future' threshold is...very low.]

It sounds like you actually have it pretty together.

Y'know, comparatively.

[iamresponding]

You're talking multiple apocalyptic wars, it sounds like, and I know what that does to a society. I don't know what your world is really like.

We all have to work with what we have.

[He briefly raises an eyebrow, and the way he says it implies he understands working to make order out of a broken universe.]

So, I'm gonna sideline the judgmental thing for now. [Maybe he doesn't agree with her world, or her attitude towards that system, but it sounds like her intentions are as noble as they can be under a system like that.] But expect to get flack from more than me, though.

And get ready to get used to working under a different system. The Legion's got their way of doing things. It was an adjustment for me, too.

[thedreamisdead]

Ah.

[The fewer futures with the Judge Child, the better.

No, I can safely say that we're good on that front.

[That just sounded bizarre.]

[walkingballpit]

Yes.

Unless they were willing to get their credentials authorized by the appropriate bodies, I'd have a problem with that, too. It's about public perception and accountability.

[thedreamisdead]

The Apocalypse War is, admittedly, a bit of a misnomer, but I'll spare you the history lesson.

[She actually enjoys history, but it's probably not the best time or format to explain world history. He didn't seem too interested, anyway.]

I'm prepared to operate under the laws of the United Planets and the Legion. As I'd expect them to obey the laws of Mega-City One if they found themselves on my doorstep. Though, considering some of the visitors we've had in the past, that would be a first.