Lengthen Prison Sentences [G]

[Smilesville]

Short description: Bring prison sentence lengths closer to their real life counterparts.

Detailed description: Not much more to say than that - though exactly how close we want to get to a sentence in real life is very much up for debate. I certainly don't want characters languishing in prison for a year on possession charges, but we can all agree that four days for armed robbery is much too short. I'm not married to the baseline ideas I have with regards to time, but here's a few charges along with what I believe would be the fairest level of IC punishment.

 

• 218. Armed Robbery (F) would carry a minimum prison sentence of thirty (30) days.
• 224. Vigilantism (M) would carry a minimum prison sentence of two (2) days.

• 302. Burglary (F) would carry a minimum prison sentence of fifteen (15) days.

• 602. Carrying an Unlicensed Firearm (M) would carry a minimum prison sentence of one (1) day.

 

And so on and so forth. There's a few ways we could modify existing sentences; we could multiply existing sentences by a single number and adjust for uniformity, as I did for the above numbers by multiplying by around 7.5.

 

Alternatively, we could add a flat number of days onto a sentence after the multiplication takes place. I don't know why we would, but it's a thought.

 

Commands to add: N/A

Items to add: N/A

How would your suggestion improve the server?

Lengthening prison sentences would, in theory, solve three problems that have long been plaguing the server for as long as I can remember.
 

1. Criminals fearless of legal consequences. It's no secret that the sheer number of low-effort robberies and extortions are facilitated partially by the complete impotence of the penal code. Four days for armed robbery was something we tolerated in the past due to the infancy of the penal system and the fact that legal punishments prior to the implementation of the prison were akin to an ajail with no RP - not the most desirable outcome. With the advent of the prison system, however, we can lengthen sentences with the assurance that there will be RP waiting for these people on the other side of the bars, which brings us to:
2. Lack of prison population. The place is no good if it doesn't have people to RP with inside; there are plenty of times of day where there are simply no other inmates around to interact with. To lengthen prison sentences across the board would mean those who are arrested stay in for longer, which leads to a greater pool of inmates for each of them to interact with.
3. Lack of motivation in law enforcement. Engaging in a multi-week process of gathering evidence makes no sense when you know the individuals charged with the crime you're investigating will be out in ten days tops, barring something like capital murder. Longer sentences means there will be a measurable impact of the investigation and arrest.

 

A significant portion of this objective too is to lessen the unrealistic levels of violent crime that take place on the server - my calculus is that good RPers will enjoy the time to connect with other characters and develop organic interactions that can propel their character going forward, while people just in it for the lite-RP quick script cash will be frustrated by the fact that they can't just get out in a few days any more and seek something else out.

 

Sure, name changes exist. Yes, you can delete a character and create a new one.

 

I would posit that the limitations that exist on each (money and time, respectively) create a less than ideal scenario for those who are dead set on continuing robbery sprees with minimal RP.

FAQ:

 

Isn't this an IC issue?

My opinion is that it is not; you'll receive pretty stern warnings for saying "oh, he'll be out in ten days" with regards to attempted murderers, for instance - and there can be no strictly IC redress for an issue that can't even be mentioned IC.

 

Doesn't this punish characters for playing an illegal concept?

I would argue that it enriches the experience - making a great number of your criminal contacts in jail is an excellent and organic way to introduce players to each other and have new organizations sprout up organically, as opposed to simply writing out about something that's happened years prior to justify the sudden existence of a new faction or gang. I must stress that prisons need to be populated with players for it to be an enjoyable experience, however - hopefully, something that's not very OOCly fun at present can retain its IC stigma while also becoming more enjoyable for the player.

 

 

[slump]

Supported, criminals on the server run rampant and crime rate in general is incredibly high. Feels like we're in some bizarre criminal wasteland rather than Los Santos. Yes, crime is a big part of the server, however it's very evident that criminals here do not have harsh consequences hardly whatsoever for very serious crimes, while legal roleplayers have to pay dearly if they were to say try and get an extorter out of their lives and business. You even try to defend yourself as a legal RPer and you're gonna end up getting CK'd cause you don't wanna cough up money to "Cleaning companies" for their weekly trips and intimidation stunts. I also feel like roleplaying in prison to decrease your sentence is an unfair excuse and abused clearly as a get out of jail early card by people who wanna go right back to the same nonsense they were doing that got them locked up in the first place. 

[Pathway]

39 minutes ago, Smilesville said:

Lack of prison population. The place is no good if it doesn't have people to RP with inside; there are plenty of times of day where there are simply no other inmates around to interact with. To lengthen prison sentences across the board would mean those who are arrested stay in for longer, which leads to a greater pool of inmates for each of them to interact with.

This is simpy untrue, there's 4 active prison factions as of now. I have a prison character and every time i've logged on for that past week i've seen a minimum of 10 people actively rping in prison, on certain days upwards of 20 prisoners. 

41 minutes ago, Smilesville said:

I must stress that prisons need to be populated with players for it to be an enjoyable experience

Good bro, you can stop stressing it now, because it is lmao.

42 minutes ago, Smilesville said:

218. Armed Robbery (F) would carry a minimum prison sentence of thirty (30) days.

I'd agree with this, if other game mechanics were changed along with it. For example  if I rob a car at gunpoint and chop said car, the person gets their car back 7 hours later, loses LITERALLY nothing, but I get a prison sentences of a month. Or what if someone provokes me, I end up shooting them, all they have to do is rp injuries for 30 seconds at a hospital, or just respawn at the hospital if they accept death, meanwhile I get months on end of prison time while this person is still casually walking around not affected in any way?

If you think that's fair you're insane. The only way I'd agree with you is if everything else on the server was adjusted to make the lengthened jailtimes fair, because it seems you're cherry picking what you want to be accurate to irl.

[Juicebox.]

I agree that a lot of criminals dont have any actual fear of being caught. But as I've stated before sometime in my own timezone I struggle to find roleplay outside of prison let alone inside of it. It isnt very fair to force a player to swap timezones to be able to have fun playing the game for the next 10 days because his CHARACTER committed a crime

[Nosey]

I'm a criminal RPer and I do agree that the prison sentences should be lengthened to provide a better RP experience for the criminal. Currently, no one really RP's the stresses of jail and being sentenced that I know of. I think it would be nice to see some new RP, such as whenever little kids in gangs get guns and they go on robbing sprees, get caught, get a week in jail at the most, then they brush it off. It would be nice to see a realistic sentence change the attitude towards this type of roleplay. Plus, it would encourage more jail RP, while there is a lot more jail RP now than when I was there, it's still nowhere near the level it could be. I honestly think it would a nice refreshing boost to RP in general, with more careful interactions with the public, more realistic/less emotionless RP with cops, as well as a boost to jail RP. I think it should be implemented!

[Smilesville]

24 minutes ago, Pathway said:

This is simpy untrue, there's 4 active prison factions as of now. I have a prison character and every time i've logged on for that past week i've seen a minimum of 10 people actively rping in prison, on certain days upwards of 20 prisoners. 

All the better, then. My experience has been similar to what Juicebox mentioned - that is, it can be difficult to find RP in prisons in particular time zones. A greater population helps to alleviate that as well.

[Esc]

"Lack of prison population"
Are you telling me one of your reasons to lengthen the sentences is to provide better roleplay experiences in prison? It doesn't matter how long you get to spend in prison; if you don't login to roleplay, what's the difference? You don't get auto-released from prison, you have to type a command over by the door, and that allows those who want to roleplay more in prison to stay for as much as they see fit. There's also a system for those who actively wish to roleplay in there as lifers.

This won't change a thing and will only make people get bored if they have to spend over 2 months and a half in prison for minor charges. They'd most likely kick their character off to the side until the sentence is covered.

"Lack of motivation in law enforcement. 

Engaging in a multi-week process of gathering evidence makes no sense when you know the individuals charged with the crime you're investigating will be out in ten days tops, barring something like capital murder. Longer sentences means there will be a measurable impact of the investigation and arrest. "

 

As far as I know, there's a life sentence system already in place. If your character is being investigated and the case is indeed strong, I doubt they'd get less than life sentence due to the 30 points system. I suggest you'd look through the prison system before addressing this matter.

 

---

I've spent a total of one month and nine days in prison over a double murder charge & possession and I can tell you that,  after roleplaying every day until the end, it was enough IC and OOC punishment for what went down. I've used that time to develop my character and things of the like, but just because some people don't, it doesn't mean we all have to pay for it or force others to do it. I feel like having our character locked between 4 walls ( where your time zone can or can not match with the current in-mate's ) for half a year irl is a big stretch.
If someone is wrongly portraying a robbery or extortion? You should report them and they'd be handled accordingly.

[Triple Seven]

Fully agree. Crimes don't impact characters it appears. I'm fine with something like insurance taking longer to replace your vehicle too, as suggested by Pathway, makes it more realistic and they could give access to a temporary loaner etcetera.

 

I also do think that getting caught in a longer built up crime, should have the same result as a PK, as in you can't just continue doing it to that same party after the sentence is done. The hospital RP is already in place, but obviously you can't force people to RP there without staff and you can't expect staff to constantly RP with one person. Interpatient RP is not really anything. People in hospitals don't really interact too much if they're not in a shared room or having a coffee in a shared space. It's mostly visitors and a lot of just laying around as anyone who has been hospitalized will know. This is not something to RP much in, hence it needs some sense of time skips. A prison is a closed environment where interactions are realistic and relatively easily possible in roleplay.

Edited January 15, 2021 by Triple Seven
Adding on.

[Juicebox.]

I think that doing this WILL succeed in forcing illegal chars to think twice about their actions. However, this will also lead to more CK's and players outright abandoning the character in general. 

 

 

I was given a 2-3 week prison time on one of my characters and due to OOC reasons and my mate being out of school for only 2 weeks we couldnt really afford to spend the time in prison so we CK'd our characters and moved on. IRL things forced me to basically abandon a character as the jail time was just a kick in the teeth.

 

Obviously I fully deserved the prison sentence and such but I'm just giving you the mindset that people have and why it will just lead in more CK's vs more prison roleplay. 

Edited January 15, 2021 by Juicebox.

[.Pluto.]

10 minutes ago, Juicebox. said:

I think that doing this WILL succeed in forcing illegal chars to think twice about their actions. However, this will also lead to more CK's and players outright abandoning the character in general. 

 

 

I was given a 2-3 week prison time on one of my characters and due to OOC reasons and my mate being out of school for only 2 weeks we couldnt really afford to spend the time in prison so we CK'd our characters and moved on. IRL things forced me to basically abandon a character as the jail time was just a kick in the teeth.

 

Obviously I fully deserved the prison sentence and such but I'm just giving you the mindset that people have and why it will just lead in more CK's vs more prison roleplay. 

At the end of the day, that says more about the person and his/her Roleplay, and not about the prison sentence.

EDIT: On topic - IC issue. Suggest it to legislature. We have State Gov and State Senate, plus, maximum sentence is 20 days, it can be 20 days, or life, depending on criminal points.

Edited January 15, 2021 by .Pluto.