Fitzy

Nothing is really stopping you from sending an IC letter to the Mayor or City Council offering your company's services.

The City Attorney's office would be allowed to exercise prosecutorial discretion in pursuing charges further. If they strongly feel that there is no chance that the arrest would be upheld under further scrutiny by a judge, they may elect to not pursue the appeal further. Again, this is where trust and co-operation between the various actors in the system are critical. My hope is that the average trial will be completed within two weeks. In the beginning, this system will operate almost exclusively on the forums. The logistics involved in holding a full trial in-game (where all parties must be present at the same time, in the same place, for the same amount of time) will simply exceed the judiciary's resources in its early stages. However, once the system is established and running effectively, I would really like to look into holding basic hearings in-game, and I think that would certainly be feasible one day in the future.

Hello all. For those of you who do not know me, I am Fitzy and I have been asked to establish and administer GTA World's judicial system. A critical part of this is the in-character criminal justice system, and I am excited to share with you all an overview of the vision I have for this system. I welcome and encourage everyone's comments, questions, and concerns. Without further ado, I would like to present my proposal. Overview of the Criminal Justice Process The system I am proposing is designed balance the limitations of a game like GTA V with providing a realistic, functional and engaging criminal justice system. It will be flexible enough to allow the police to do their job, which is to maintain order and enforce the law, while also providing an important check against the arbitrary exercise of police power for ordinary players. Essentially, the system will proceed in the following way: A player is arrested by a police officer. As defined in the Penal Code of San Andreas (which I encourage everyone to browse over briefly), once a player is arrested they will be deemed to have been charged and convicted of the crime they were arrested for. The player argues that their arrest was unlawful, on the grounds that the police did not have sufficient evidence to arrest them. The player will then file a Criminal Appeal in the Superior Court of San Andreas. A judge will preside over the player's Criminal Appeal and hold a probable cause hearing within 24 hours. The judge will have access to the police report detailing the player's arrest, and all the evidence the police relied upon to arrest the player. The judge will then make a ruling on probable cause, which is a determination of whether there was sufficient probable cause for the player's arrest. If the judge finds that there was no probable cause for the arrest, the player will be released from police custody immediately and the charge(s) expunged. If the judge has further questions regarding the arrest, the judge may call for more evidence/testimony from the City Attorney's office or from the arresting police officer(s). If the judge finds that there was probable cause for the arrest, they will order that the arrest shall stand. At this point, if the player wishes to further dispute their arrest (for example, on the grounds that they feel the police/prosecutor(s) misrepresented the evidence used to arrest them) then they may elect to proceed to a full trial. During a full trial, the City Attorney's office will be tasked with defending the police officer(s) arrest of the player in their role as prosecutor. Both sides (the player and the prosecutor) will make arguments, and may call additional evidence or witnesses, to convince the judge that the arrest should or should not stand. Ideally, the average trial will be concluded within 1-2 weeks. After a trial, the judge will make a final ruling on whether the player's arrest was lawful. Main Actors in the Criminal Justice System The Police The police are tasked with maintaining law and order. They will be granted a broad range of powers under the law, and have the authority to arrest any player if they believe there is probable cause that the person has committed, or is about to commit, a crime. Given the broad range of discretionary powers granted to them, the courts will serve as an important institution to ensure that the police do not abuse their powers and arbitrarily arrest players without sufficient evidence or reason. Police officers will be expected to keep fairly detailed records of the arrests they perform, as they may be called before the courts (or by a prosecutor) to answer questions regarding the arrest(s) they have made. The Courts As previously mentioned, the courts will primarily serve as a check against the abuse of police power. If a player genuinely believes that a police officer had no reason to arrest them, the courts will give them an avenue to appeal that arrest. The courts will, and must, be a neutral arbiter. They will answer to no one but the law. The City Attorney The City Attorney's office will, essentially, act as police attorneys. They will play an essential role in the criminal justice system, and will be tasked with defending all arrests the police make when they are appealed by the arrested player. They will work closely with the police to ensure that if a player appeals their arrest to the courts, there will be sufficient evidence presented to the court to make the arrest stand. The reason that the City Attorney's office must play an essential role in the criminal justice system is so the police do not become overburdened. Expecting the police to both perform arrests and then have the resources to constantly defend them in court is simply too much. What's required for this system to work? Script/Forum Features As I previously mentioned, perhaps the most necessary feature of this system will be detailed arrest records kept by the police. These can either be done through an in-game police computer system (ideally one that would also be accessible via the UCP) or simply a forum-based system. The next necessary feature will be allowing judges and the City Attorney's office access to these reports. This is absolutely necessary to, 1) allow the courts to make a quick initial determination about whether there was probable cause for an arrest and 2) to allow the City Attorney's office to properly do their job as prosecutors. Having been a judge on LSRP for a very long time, I can attest to limitations that keeping these records confidential and only accessible by police agencies has on a justice system. If the police have exclusive access to these records and refuse to share access to them, the entire system will move at a much slower pace and, I think, defeat the entire purpose of having it in the first place (which is to allow players a quick avenue to dispute their arrest). Trust and Co-operation The police and the City Attorney's office will need to recognize that they are on the same team and working towards the same goal: maintaining law and order. If either side refuses to work with one another and declines to share resources/information, the system will break down and become dysfunctional. Independence of the Judiciary The courts will be neutral arbiters of the law. Their decisions need to be based on IC findings of fact and law. In order for players to have faith in our criminal justice system, they need to see it as fair and independent. I cannot stress this last point enough. Conclusion I truly do feel that this proposal is the most efficient and effective way to establish a realistic criminal justice system on GTA World. It will not function exactly like the real-life American justice system (most notably, players will be found guilty when they arrested by a police officer, not after they have been convicted by a court like in the real world). However, this system will fulfill a number of important roles and provide excellent roleplay opportunities for everyone involved by: Giving players the ability to appeal what they argue are abuses of police power. Immersing police in a realistic criminal justice system and requiring them to roleplay with a high degree of professionalism. Providing the City Attorney's office and its staff with the opportunity to roleplay as prosecutors in a realistic justice system (and, conversely, providing ample opportunities for defense attorneys to roleplay as lawyers as well). I hope to generate some discussion of this proposal, and welcome any comments, questions or concerns anyone may have.

My interpretation is that shotguns and rifles can't be concealed in the manner that a handgun can. If a shotgun/rifle is simply transported in a vehicle, the carrier shouldn't be charged under that provision. "City" should be interpreted as broadly as possible (i.e. small towns as well), in my opinion. This provision can be changed based on how players/administrators feel about allowing open carrying in less populated areas.

I can easily add a section about prosecuting/sentencing juveniles, but I would like to get a better sense of how the administration/players feel about that policy. It's also possible to just ignore age and assume that everyone is treated equally by the criminal justice system.