Justice System

See also:

Criminal Code

Arrest and Detainment

If your Liberals are arrested by the police, they will be taken the police station and placed in the police lock-up. At the end of the month, they will be transferred to the courthouse lock-up for trial. During either of these two months, a properly timed raid on the location your Liberal is being held at can free your Liberals from the clutches of the justice system. On the site, must find find the lock-up and have sufficient security skill to free them. If you do not break your Liberals out, the case will proceed to trial.

Sweatshop Workers

Remember that arrested Sweatshop Workers will be treated differently than other Liberals in most circumstances; when the "Immigration" agenda is rated C, M, or L, after they have been processed by the police, they will be sent to Immigration Services (as opposed to being sent to the courthouse) and then immediately afterwards back to their home country. This effectively removes them from the game.

If Immigration is rated as a C+ issue, at the same time Death Penalty is rated C+, then these Liberals will be immediately executed when arrested. If Immigration is rated L+, they will not be deported and will be treated as any other squad member.

Trial

Sleepers

You can improve your chances of getting away with your Liberal crimes by placing strategic sleepers in the Justice system before ever getting to this stage.

Sleeper Lawyer

Having a sleeper lawyer allows you to ask them to work your defense for pro bono credit, as of the latest versions; otherwise, they cost a nominal $100. While sleeper lawyers begin somewhat weaker than the ace liberal attorney, they are stronger than court-appointed attorneys, and much cheaper. Additionally, sleepers gain experience through use, and Juice for successful defenses.

Sleeper Judge

You don't get to pick your judge, but if you have a sleeper judge, you might get lucky. It takes 4 sleeper judges to guarantee your case will be heard by a sleeper; in the newer versions, their ability to hear a case is based on their Effectiveness as displayed in the sleeper-list. Having the judge over your case be a sleeper is a significant advantage. A sleeper judge will have the jury nicely predisposed toward acquittal, will cripple the prosecution's case by sustaining objections against their key evidence and witnesses, and if the jury still votes to convict, a sleeper judge will always be relatively lenient in sentencing.

Charges

Before the trial begins proper, you will be read off a list of the charges against your Liberal, so that you can determine how good your chances are and what the stakes are. Mass murder will be significantly harder to defend than disturbing the peace, so select your defense appropriately.

Additionally at this time, you will be notified if any former Liberal Crime Squad members have agreed to testify against your Liberal. These key witnesses can strengthen the prosecution significantly, and signify that you are facing an unusually difficult case.

Jury Selection

At the start of the trial the jury will be selected. The political leanings of the nation will affect the leanings of the jury. If you are fortunate, it will be Liberal. If you are unfortunate, it will be Conservative. The more favorable the jury is to your political alignment, the more they will want to believe your defense.

Prosecution

The strength of the prosecution is determined primarily by the number and type of charges against your Liberal. The more "scary" the charges, the more the Prosecution can exploit them. With the same amount of evidence, they can better get a conviction of terrorism than prostitution. Confessions from former LCS members will also enhance the prosecution. Be careful if you have a lot of charges against you, as not only will they make for a better case, but the government will tend to hire a better prosecutor to argue it.

Defense

You will have the opportunity to select your defense after the charges are listed. While the defense does not present its arguments until after the jury selection and prosecution, you must choose your strategy now.

Court-appointed attorney

The court-appointed attorney is a public servant happy to help you plan your defense. This is not the best way to beat the system, but if you don't have any better options, this is the way to go.

Defend yourself

You may choose to have your Liberal decline to be represented by an attorney and choose to defend herself in court. This is an abysmally bad decision if your Liberal has no knowledge of the law and is unpersuasive, but a skilled Liberal can pull this off gracefully. Successful or extremely strong self-defense can build Juice.

Plead guilty

If you are facing overwhelming odds and a hostile judge, a confession and guilty plea will not prevent a trip to prison, but it may soften the judge enough to get a more lenient sentence.

Pay $5000 to hire an ace Liberal attorney

The ace Liberal attorney is the best of the best, able to guarantee an impressive showing and even a jury stacked in your favor. The only catch is the cost and that pesky risk of attracting the ace attorney's evil arch-rival prosecutor from hell.

Pay $100 to hire a sleeper attorney/Accept a sleeper attorney's offer to represent pro bono

A bit of nominal expense (or, depending on your version, the need for pro bono service hours) will allow you to tap one of your own sleepers to mount the defense. Your sleeper will perform based on his or her law and persuasion skills, and has the potential to gain or lose juice based on the outcome of the trial.

Verdict

Acquittal

If the defense is strong enough, your Liberal may be acquitted on all charges and allowed to go free. Congratulations! You now have a clean slate to promptly dirty up with more crimes.

Hung jury

Rather than acquittal, there is a small chance that the jury will not be able to come to an agreement. If this occurs, the prosecution may decide to try again next month, in which case your Liberal will be held at the courthouse for another month, and the trial repeated. If you're lucky, the government will decline to have the case retried, and you will get to go free as if acquitted.

Conviction

If you don't manage to persuade the jury of your Liberal's innocence, or decide to plead guilty, your Liberal will be convicted and sentenced.

Sentencing

Sentencing depends on the number and severity of the crimes, and the current laws of the country.

If sentenced to time in prison, your Liberal will be transferred to the Prison at the edge of town. If you want to get a clean slate with that Liberal, you'll have to wait until they are released. Otherwise you can raid the prison to try to free them. In versions with multilevel Prisons, anyone sentenced to a term of years is on the ground floor.

Life sentence

If your Liberal is sentenced to one or more Life terms in prison, you must free them with a prison raid or they will never be released. In versions with multilevel Prisons, anyone sentenced to Life is on the second floor.

Death sentence

Depending on how much Conservatism is clouding the country, and how severe the crimes, your Liberal may be sentenced to execution. If this happens, you will have three months to break them out of prison before they are killed. In versions with multilevel Prisons, anyone sentenced to Death is on the third/top floor.

Lenience

It is possible for the judge to decide to be lenient in sentencing. A lenient judge will reduce the amount of jail time, number of consecutive life sentences, or even a death sentence to life. Sleeper judges are always lenient.

Post-Trial

The prison is where Liberals who have been convicted and sentenced are sent. Aside from breaking your own people out of jail, you can also recruit prison guards and prisoners here. If you were lucky enough to be acquitted, your Liberal will instead end up at the homeless shelter, free and ready for new orders.

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