Marine Law

WIP, based on https://github.com/RMC-14/RMC-14/pull/3440

The Uniform Code of Military Justice commonly known as Marine Law is the foundation of the system of military justice of the United Nations Marine Corps, It's enforced by the Military Police Corps with the Provost Marshal Office having final say in any judicial matters.

Definitions

These definitions are used throughout the rest of Marine Law.

Commanding Officer - An official UNMC Commanding Officer. Anything with the words Commanding Officer only applies to whitelisted Commanding Officers. These rights cannot be transferred.

Commander - The current Commander of an operation. Transferable to a new Commander, per the Chain of Command.

Duty Officer - The ranking officer in the Chain of Command who, in the temporary absence of the Commander, is placed in command of the warship. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the Duty Officer is interchangeable with, and inherits the rights of Commander in this case.

Chief MP - The Chief of Military Police, assigned to the warship. Only transferable to a Warden by the Commander, if another MP is appointed to be acting Warden.

MP - Military Police, including personnel validly deputized by the Commanding Officer, who deal with Marine Law.

Officer - A person who is a Commissioned Officer. These rights cannot be transfered.

Aiding, abetting, conspiring - Assisting others in committing a crime, directly or indirectly, encouraging them to commit one (including bribery), conspiring or attempting to commit a crime will be treated as having committed that crime with regards to punishment.

Lawful Orders - Personnel are required to follow all lawful orders from their superiors and are NOT-required to follow unlawful orders. If personnel are refusing to follow an order, they must state why they believe it would break Marine Law, making it an unlawful order. Valid NJPs are not unlawful orders in the case of neglected duties.

Riot equipment:

• Flashbangs.
• Teargas.
• Riot shotguns with beanbag rounds.
• Riot shields and armor.
• Riot grenade launchers.

FOB - The Forward Operating Base. Designated by the Commander. It is a reinforced area, usually being the primary landing zone. FOBs do not have to be placed adjacent to a landing zone. However, the primary landing zone itself must at least be properly defended and guarded.

Area of Operations (AO) - The area of operations is the broad location where personnel are being deployed to conduct an operation.

Secure Areas - Must be designated by the Commander or staff officers. It is a reinforced area, where there has been no recent combat or threats. The FOB is usually a secure area until it is attacked, for example. The Commander or any CIC personnel at any point may designate an area no longer secure.

Arresting and Field Arrests

Should the warship get boarded by a hostile force, no arrests should be made unless the person presents a danger to the warship and/or its personnel.

Arresting a Suspect

These arrests can be performed anywhere on the warship.

1. Take down the Suspect if they resist and securely restrain them.
2. Move the Suspect to a brig cell.
3. Continue to charging procedure.

Field Arrests

Arrests that are performed in the Area of Operations.

• Field arrests are restricted to the FOB, dropships, and secure areas unless in pursuit.
• If a suspect flees outside the above areas or are witnessed by the MP, they may be pursued.
• If there are hostiles in the vicinity, the MP must abort the arrest and move to a secure area.
• MPs may move between secure areas.
• Squad Leaders may detain marines of their squad that violate the law, but must detain marines of their squad by orders of the Chief MP, Commander, or any commissioned officer. This may also apply to personnel that are deploying unauthorized.
• Marines and personnel detained by the Squad Leaders should be passed onto the MP in a secure area when possible.

Charging and sentencing

Upon arrest, the arresting MP must transfer the suspect to the brig, where they will have the suspect charged with the crimes committed, by another member of the Military Police.

General Charging Procedure

• Brig timers must not exceed 30 minutes unless in the case of a Capital Crime, or if extended by crimes performed while jailed.
• Charging is to be done, in order of availability, by the Military Warden, the Chief MP, an uninvolved MP, the arresting MP.
• If any of these are present they may explicitly defer to the next in-line if their attention is required elsewhere. This right should be used reasonably.
• If any of these are present they may explicitly defer to the next in-line if their attention is required elsewhere. This right should be used reasonably.
• The person issuing the charges should also determine a sentence.
• Inform the Suspect of their Charges before the brig timer starts.
• Inform the Suspect they may file an appeal should they wish so.
• Ensure to follow prisoner rights and the right to appeal.

Brigging checklist

1. Apply the charges and activate the brig timer.
2. Remove all their belongings, including ID card and headset.
3. Put them in the orange uniform, if available, else their original uniform.
4. Give them a standard headset of common channel, if available.
5. Place them inside the cell, buckled to the bed, then flash or stun them and recover your handcuffs.
6. Search their belongings for contraband and theft.
7. When the time is over, let them grab their belongings, escort them out of the brig.
8. If the prisoner is SSD at the end of their sentence, return their belongings and place them in brig cryo.
9. If a prisoner has been SSD for over 5 minutes you may place them in cryo, but they must serve the rest of their time if they return.

Crimes

Capital Crimes

These crimes are extreme severity. All of these crimes may be punished by Permanent confinement and demotion, or execution and ID termination.

Charge	Description
Jailbreak/Escape	To escape, assist in an escape, attempt escape, or be willfully and knowingly broken out from a cell.
Attempted Murder	Attempting to murder a person but failing to do so. If the evidence shows that the arrested person was clearly trying to kill someone with ill intent but failed in the action itself.
Murder/Unauthorized Execution	This also includes refusing or preventing to revive anyone not executed by the execution procedure. Killing someone with malicious intent. This includes Synthetic units. The charge applies even if the victim is later revived. Executions are only authorized as outlined in the Execution Procedure.
Sedition	To engage in actions or refuse to follow orders as to overthrow or usurp the legitimate command structure. Creating a massive threat to the ship without the knowledge and approval of the Commander falls under sedition. A Duty Officer Proclaiming allegiance to, or acting on behalf of, the supposed CLF is an act of sedition against the UN.
Desertion	Refusing to carry out the duties essential to one’s post or abandoning post unauthorized, without intent to return. (Retreating from the planet when the FOB is breached is not Desertion, refusing to return when ordered is).
Crimes against Sapience	To engage in actions that violate sapient life rights or otherwise are heinous acts against sapient life. Examples are torture, cannibalism and forced infection of any kind.

Major Crimes

These crimes are high severity.

Charge	Description	Punishment
Disorderly Conduct	Directly and intentionally disrupting primary operations of the ship. Fighting in the requisitions line, extensively or repeatedly disrupting the briefing.	10 Minutes.
Subterfuge	Carrying out objectives or being tied to material that describe planned actions that go against the UNMC. Strong proof is required that the individual is working against UNMC. A major charge of Unauthorized use of a Listening Device when such a device is also tied to a foreign government or terror organisation is additionally considered Subterfuge.	15 Minutes, removal of ID, and discharge to planet.
Neglect of duty	Failure to perform one’s role to an acceptable standard. For example, a Commander failing to properly organize and ensure their personnel are given orders, failing to follow proper procedure in detriment of one’s duties, or ship crew leaving the ship or their post without authorization from the Commander or their Department Head.	15 Minutes.
Assault	To threaten or use physical force against someone with ill intent, but without intent to kill.	15 Minutes.
Assault with a deadly weapon	To threaten or use physical force against someone with ill intent and with a lethal weapon such as a sidearm, blade, or rifle but not attempting to murder them.	20 Minutes.
Manslaughter	Killing someone without malicious intent. Manslaughter may be applied if someone dies as a result of a fight where the intent was not to kill. This also includes failing to revive someone without a reasonable attempt, not executed by the execution procedure.	20 Minutes, and/or demotion.
Prevarication	To intentionally order the arrest of a person on false charges who is then found to be innocent, or to apply an improper or abusive NJP. This includes intentionally arresting a person on false charges, on ones own initiative without orders.	20 Minutes.
Illegal Confinement	Unlawfully detaining a person against their will. Includes, kidnapping, hostage-taking, and confining people in cells without charging them for a crime. It does not apply to Prisoners of War.	20 Minutes.
Cruelty to Animals	Injuring or killing any domestic animal or wild life with malicious intent. Research monkeys used for chemical research, scientific purposes or hostile wildlife are exempt.	30 Minutes.
Misuse of Authority	The exercising of power to a malicious extent by MP or deputized personnel acting as an MP. Examples include beating a downed prisoner, excessive use of harmful or non-lethal force, or other abusive actions that led to the harm of a person in custody. Detained suspects should not have more force used on them than necessary in order to pacify them.	20 Minutes.
Unauthorised Deployment	To deploy into the area of operations without permission of the relevant head of department or Commander where appropriate whilst still performing assigned duties. (I.E A doctor deploying without permission, with the intentions to perform field surgery.) Deploying without intent to perform assigned duties remains desertion. The relevant Head of Department or the Commander where appropriate may retroactively authorize deployment. The Commander may overrule the Head of Department on this. The relevant Head of Department or the Commander may designate an alternate person to deploy in the stead of an unauthorized person, in which case MPs should coordinate with the designated person to reduce disruption in the field. The maximum delay for this period is five minutes.	10 Minutes.

Minor Crimes

These crimes are low severity, and can be punished with an NJP.

Charge	Description	Punishment
Failure to Follow Procedure	Failing to follow the regulations found in the Standard Operating Procedure.	10 Minutes, equipment confiscation where relevant.
Smoking in Medical Areas	Smoking in areas designated for use by medical personnel, such as the entire medbay and surgical rooms.	10 Minutes.
Hooliganism	Behavior that is generally disruptive to the ship and crew that classifies as low-level shenanigans not deserving of more severe punishment. Things such as excessive window knocking, force-feeding other marines or failing to conduct oneself properly during the briefing, such as climbing the Briefing overview. This can escalate to Disorderly Conduct.	NJP.
Trespassing	Unauthorized access of an area which a person does not normally have access to or without command/superior approval.	Escort out of the area and optionally 7.5 minutes.
Intoxication	To consume alcohol or other substances such as alcohol or hallucinogenic drugs resulting in impaired job performance.	10 minutes, extended until the person is no longer impaired.
Theft	To take items (or property) from another person or entity without their express permission, or to retain possession of items that have been taken without permission. This includes the removal of vendors from department areas without permission.	10 minutes, and the item(s) returned to the owner.
Disrespecting a superior Officer	Using offensive names or being directly disrespectful to a Commissioned Officer of higher rank or position.	10 Minutes.
False Testimony	To intentionally and willingly lie to an MP, or deputized officer, during a criminal investigation with the intent to disrupt said investigation.	5 minutes.

Variable Crimes

These crimes can vary in severity and have scaling punishments.

Charge	Description	Minor	Major
Damage to UNMC Property	Damaging the ship or making any unauthorized modifications to it as outlined in Standard Operating Procedure. Materials for repairs should be taken from maintenance storages.	Breaking a window, damaging a wall, etc. Return the ship to it's exact previous state, or serve 7.5 minutes if not possible.	Breaking the law in a major manner includes breaking or dismantling walls or several windows. 10 minutes.
Insubordination	Failing to follow a lawful order from a superior person of rank or position, or disrespecting someone of a higher rank or position that is not an officer. Disrespecting a superior Officer is under minor crimes.	An order which is not personally directed, or disrespecting someone of a higher rank or position that is not an officer. 7.5 minutes.	An order personally directed at a person in question using either their name or clearly communicating its meant for them. 15 minutes.
Interference	Interfering in a legal arrest being performed.	Interfering without ill intent, such as blocking the way or helping someone up. 7.5 minutes.	Interfering with ill intent or in a clear way to hinder the arrest being performed. 15 minutes.
Unauthorized use of Listening Devices	The use of listening devices in violation of Standard Operating Procedures.	Illegally placing a listening device in a public area such as the gym. 7.5 minutes.	Illegally placing a listening device in a secure area, or area with privacy shutters, such as CIC or the CL's office. If the listening device is also tied to a foreign government or terror organisation this is additionally considered Subterfuge 15 minutes.

Optional Crimes

These crimes can be added on to existing charges where relevant.

Charge	Description	Minor	Major
Resisting Arrest	To resist a lawful arrest or search by a Military Police officer.	Refusing to comply with a lawful search or arrest. 5 minutes.	Resisting a legal arrest by an MP by fleeing or using force. 10 minutes.
Aiding and Abetting	Assisting others in committing a crime, directly or indirectly, or encouraging them to commit one. Any person Aiding and Abetting is required to be told the crimes of the person they aided.	Same punishment as crime committed.
Disorderly Conduct in Confinement	To cause disruption in a significant manner while in Brig and under arrest. This can be added on to any charge.	Breaking a Minor Law while under arrest or in Prison. 7.5 minutes.	Breaking a Major Law while under arrest or in Prison. 15 minutes.

Precautionary Crimes

These are used to confine people indefinitely.

Charge	Description
Insanity	Declared only by the CMO or a synthetic, acting in such a manner which makes the offender not sound clear of mind. The subject, once cleared to be of sound mind, may be released from this particular charge. In the absence of a CMO or Synthetic, the Commander or Chief MP can appoint an officer of the medical department to perform an evaluation in their stead. An exception to this is in cases of verified suicide or attempted suicide, and the subject may appeal, or appeal to any medical personnel.
Prisoner of War	Being a hostile member of a legitimate and recognised faction. Prisoners of war cannot be executed, unless they are an active threat to others.
Discretionary Detainment	A discretionary charge used by Commanding Officer to detain personnel for any reason - for the safety and benefit of the operation or security. This is only appealable to the Commanding Officer, or the Provost Marshal Office, and may be lifted at any time by the Commanding Officer.

Non-judicial punishments (NJPs)

These may be issued and observed by the MP or SEA instead of an arrest and/or brig sentence where valid.

General usage:

• NJPs should not risk the person's health.
• If the NJP offer is refused, they are to serve the original sentence, or a 10 minute brig timer if none exists.
• Accepting the NJP waives the right to appeal. The suspect or prisoner should be informed of this.
• Failure to comply to an accepted NJP will result in an additional charge of [bold]resisting arrest[/bold] with the original charges.
• Failure to complete an NJP is not considered failure to comply if a legitimate attempt is observed.
• NJPs are a one-time offer. The same NJP for the charges cannot be accepted once denied.
• The decision to offer or not offer a NJP may be overruled by a higher ranking MP.
• In the case of officer ordered arrests the Chief MP or Commander may choose to assign an NJP over the initial charge (where valid).

Brig Usage:

• A NJP may be offered to a prisoner in a cell at any point, unless they were offered and denied one already, or their sentence total is above 10 minutes or a major crime.
• NJPs cannot take longer than their remaining brig time.

Examples:

• Ordering a marine to clean the preparation areas of squads.
• Ordering a marine to do laps around the warship.

Appeals

Right to Appeal

• Accepting an NJP waives the right to appeal.
• Appeals are used to correct errors, but may not be used to add new charges or punishments if a brig timer was already set.
• Appeals must be handled before executions, demotions, and NJPs. Appealing prisoners should have their brig timers set and running while the appeal is being processed.
• Personnel may be placed in holding awaiting their appeal if it had no brig sentence.
• Whomever is handling the appeal has the final say in the outcome of the appeal.