Criminal Codex

[Charles Cerebella]

4. Something to keep in mind is that we will want the court to remain as active as possible. The more work that you are able to give them, the better. So, being open with the parameters of the court is far from a bad thing.

This I do not agree with. While I would like to see members of the court remain active so that we'll know they will be active when it comes time for a trial, I do not personally want to see much activity in the Pschent itself. I don't want to see us define so many things as crimes that we constantly have citizens being frivolously prosecuted, and I don't want to see constant legal disputes, just for the sake of Pschent activity. That kind of activity isn't healthy for a region.

I'm fully with Cormac on this. I've been in regions that have very active courts and it is not a good thing. People go to them to seek redress for grievances as a first resort and it promotes a fractious, unfriendly culture. The region becomes divided and disputes and conflicts are not settled quickly, informally and amicably but are dragged out with the result that divides deepen. An active court is the last thing any region needs, and given the past here it is definitely not something we should want for ourselves.

Contrast the regions where the courts aren't resorted to to settle disputes and you have more friendly places, with a greater sense of community and less disputes arising in the first place, and if they do they're more likely to be settled informally without any negative consequences. They're flexible and not wedded to strict legality and being a friendly community is more important than having perfect laws and legal redress. That is the model we should look for.

[Juris Lancaster]

4. Something to keep in mind is that we will want the court to remain as active as possible. The more work that you are able to give them, the better. So, being open with the parameters of the court is far from a bad thing.

This I do not agree with. While I would like to see members of the court remain active so that we'll know they will be active when it comes time for a trial, I do not personally want to see much activity in the Pschent itself. I don't want to see us define so many things as crimes that we constantly have citizens being frivolously prosecuted, and I don't want to see constant legal disputes, just for the sake of Pschent activity. That kind of activity isn't healthy for a region.

I'm fully with Cormac on this. I've been in regions that have very active courts and it is not a good thing. People go to them to seek redress for grievances as a first resort and it promotes a fractious, unfriendly culture. The region becomes divided and disputes and conflicts are not settled quickly, informally and amicably but are dragged out with the result that divides deepen. An active court is the last thing any region needs, and given the past here it is definitely not something we should want for ourselves.

Contrast the regions where the courts aren't resorted to to settle disputes and you have more friendly places, with a greater sense of community and less disputes arising in the first place, and if they do they're more likely to be settled informally without any negative consequences. They're flexible and not wedded to strict legality and being a friendly community is more important than having perfect laws and legal redress. That is the model we should look for.

I think you and Cormac misunderstand me some.

The point I'm making here is that a Court is better equipped when it has the ability to exercise its muscles every once and again. A wider mandate doesn't always mean that more people will come to the court. Matter of fact, the Pschent does have the ability to decline or throw out cases also.

Further, it is normally the culture that drives up poisonous caseloads, not necessarily a wider mandate. For instance, TNP has lots of poisonous caseloads because of their culture (laws must be perfect, and the court system was "made" for personal vendettas). In stark contrast, TEP does not because it has a culture of civil and mature thinking.

So, yes you do have a correlation. I do not think you have a cause and effect here.

As I said, a court with a full toolbox is far from a bad thing. I understand that this may not sound like the best thing, but, one must remember that this system is being run by human beings and a system that is stable and flexible with the times is a far better than a system with no leg room. If you've ever been in a small car, you know the feeling I am talking about.

EDIT: for grammar details

[shetef]

Updated draft:

Criminal Codex of the Osiris Fraternal Order

§1. Institution and Purpose of the Criminal Codex
(a) The Criminal Codex of the Osiris Fraternal Order (hereafter referred to as "the Codex") shall be instated as the fundamental document of Osiran criminal law. Only offenses outlined in this document shall be considered crimes under Osiran law.

§2. Crimes Against Osiris
(a) The following shall be classified as "crimes against Osiris".
(b) "Treason" shall be defined as activities, successful or unsuccessful, toward the overthrow of the Osiris Fraternal Order, with or without foreign aid. This may or may not include military action against Osiris.
(c) "Conspiracy" shall be defined as entering into a plot or pact to commit a criminal offense or aiding and abetting any individual in the commission of a criminal offense.
(d) "Espionage" shall be defined as an attempt, successful or unsuccessful, to disclose information to anyone to whom it is not privy outside the explicit approval of any officers responsible for said information.
(e) "Election Fraud" shall be defined as manipulation of the results or outcome of an election through means which include, but are not limited to, violating official election law or practices, misrepresenting the results of any election, and preventing the proper administration of elections.
(f) "Impersonation" shall be defined as the misrepresentation of one's identity as another known player or as the misrepresentation of oneself as an ambassador or other officeholder of the Osiris Fraternal Order.
(g) "Sedition" shall be defined as discourse which encourages other individuals to commit an off-site offense or crime against Osiris.

§3. Off-site Offenses
(a) "Off-site property" shall be defined as any area used by the Osiran community or government of the Osiris Fraternal Order not belonging to the NationStates website (including but not limited to the Osiris Fraternal Order forum). This definition shall also extend to forums or other offsite areas belonging to any other NS organization or regional government.
(b) The following shall be considered "off-site offenses".
(c) "Phishing" shall be defined as attempting to gain access to passwords or to administrative power over a piece of off-site property belonging to the Osiris Fraternal Order when the person in question has not been granted such access by the forum administrators.
(d) "Crashing" shall be defined as malicious action which prevents the Osiran community or the government of the Osiris Fraternal Order from properly functioning by destroying or damaging off-site property of the Osiris Fraternal Order.
(e) "Spamming" shall be defined as any action taken to waste or exceed server capacity or to cause a piece of off-site property to become temporarily inaccessible. This includes excessive levels of page access, account creation, or posting, as well as Denial of Service attacks.
(f) Administrators and moderators of off-site property belonging to the Osiris Fraternal Order shall not be impeded by the government of the Osiris Fraternal Order in the enforcement of rules immediately germane to that property such as Terms of Service.

§4. Civil Offenses
(a) The following shall be classified as "civil offenses".
(b) "Harassment" shall be defined as any communication causing alarm or distress to a citizen of the Osiris Fraternal Order with malicious intent or intent to intimidate that citizen.
(c) "Defamation" shall be defined as an attack on the character of a citizen of the Osiris Fraternal Order that is unsubstantiated or unfounded with malicious intent or intent to gain advantage, political or otherwise, over that citizen.
(d) Satire shall be excluded from the definitions of these offenses.

§5. Sentencing
(a) The Scribe of Seshat shall detail a recommended sentence for a civil offense or crime against Osiris when presenting cases before the Pschent.
(b) Sentencing for off-site offenses shall be at the recommendation of forum administration.
(c) Sentences may include, but are not limited to, formal censures or warnings, forum bans, in-game ejections and in-game bans.
(d) The Scribe of Seshat shall not have the power to recommend removal of citizenship or a restriction or ban from future citizenship without approval of the Pharaoh.

First, I'm concerned about "any area . . . including but not limited to the Osiris Fraternal Order forum" and "other offsite areas belonging to allies of Osiris." This can be construed as IRC channels, and I don't think our IRC channel should be legislated as property of the Osiran government (it isn't). Moreover, there is a significant difference between stealing and purging a region's IRC channel and destroying a region's forum. So I think this language needs to be improved.

I am unsure how to fix the definition and satisfy that concern other than what I've done to assuage your concerns about the "allies of Osiris" bit. I'm content to let the Pschent rule on whether it should include IRC channels.

1. We have election fraud, why do we not have regular fraud? It seems kind of odd to include something specific like that, without also having the wider charge in the codex.

I agree, hadn't thought of that. Should it be classified as a crime against Osiris or as a civil offense, however?

I'm also still unsure what minimum sentences (mandatory or recommended) should be for these given offenses. I'll need help with that.

Cormac- how would the government have jurisdiction over #osi (or any of the other OFO channels such as the Hedjet and Seshat channels) if they do not have ownership of them?

[Juris Lancaster]

First, I'm concerned about "any area . . . including but not limited to the Osiris Fraternal Order forum" and "other offsite areas belonging to allies of Osiris." This can be construed as IRC channels, and I don't think our IRC channel should be legislated as property of the Osiran government (it isn't). Moreover, there is a significant difference between stealing and purging a region's IRC channel and destroying a region's forum. So I think this language needs to be improved.

I am unsure how to fix the definition and satisfy that concern other than what I've done to assuage your concerns about the "allies of Osiris" bit. I'm content to let the Pschent rule on whether it should include IRC channels.

I would say that it could be included as a lesser offense. As Cormac does have a point... but its still that region's channel, even if they actually don't own it.

1. We have election fraud, why do we not have regular fraud? It seems kind of odd to include something specific like that, without also having the wider charge in the codex.

I agree, hadn't thought of that. Should it be classified as a crime against Osiris or as a civil offense, however?

I'm also still unsure what minimum sentences (mandatory or recommended) should be for these given offenses. I'll need help with that.

Maybe both, depending on who the fraud was perpetrated on.

A schedule of offenses should be created. Really, the punishment would fit the crime, so the more ghastly the offense the worse the punishment.

Cormac- how would the government have jurisdiction over #osi (or any of the other OFO channels such as the Hedjet and Seshat channels) if they do not have ownership of them?

This may have been addressed to Cormac, but I hope you don't mind if I answer. TEP actually does this. They have an act that makes illegal action within any medium where at least two citizen nations are together under the name of the region, an offense that is answerable to their court. They are currently re-writing that law to make it better.

[Cormac]

Here is a revised draft that I think addresses some of the issues that have been raised and adds some other beneficial elements, if Zeorus would like to use it. Credit where it's due: I've heavily referenced Europeia's Criminal Code (2012) in revising this draft.

Criminal Codex of the Osiris Fraternal Order Act

Section 1: Institution and Purpose of the Codex

1. The Criminal Codex of the Osiris Fraternal Order, hereafter referred to as the Codex, will be the fundamental Act of Osiran criminal law. Only offenses outlined in this Act will be considered crimes under Osiran law.

Section 2: High Crimes

1. The following are classified as high crimes against the Osiris Fraternal Order:

(a) "Treason" is defined as any attempt to overthrow or rebel against or incite others to overthrow or rebel against the Osiris Fraternal Order.

(b) "Sedition" is defined as any attempt to aid or incite others to aid enemies of the Osiris Fraternal Order during a time of war.

(c) "Espionage" is defined as the unsanctioned disclosure by an officer or agent of the Osiris Fraternal Order of confidential information relative to the interest or security of Osiris to a foreign region or its representative.

(d) "Off-site Property Destruction" is defined as any attempt to phish, crash, or spam any off-site property belonging to any region or organization in NationStates.

(e) "Citizenship Fraud" is defined as any attempt to provide false or misleading answers on one's application for citizenship in the Osiris Fraternal Order or any attempt to conceal alternate NationStates aliases during the citizenship application process.

2. High crimes will carry a minimum sentence of twelve month regional and forum ban and a maximum sentence of permanent regional and/or forum ban, revocation of citizenship, and/or permanent prohibition of future citizenship.

Section 3: Felony Crimes

1. The following are classified as felony crimes against the Osiris Fraternal Order:

(a) "Unlawful Disclosure" is defined as any attempt to disclose information to anyone who is not authorized to view such information without the explicit approval of the government official(s) responsible for said information. The definition of Unlawful Disclosure will not be construed to criminalize disclosure of illegal activity to the appropriate authorities.

(b) "Official Impersonation" is defined as any attempt, for non-satirical purposes, to misrepresent one's self as an official of the Osiris Fraternal Order.

(c) "Electoral Fraud" is defined as any attempt to manipulate the outcome or results of any election through means which include, but are not limited to, violating electoral law or lawfully established electoral practices, impeding proper electoral administration, or officially misrepresenting electoral results.

(d) "Administrative Abuse" is defined as any attempt by administrators or moderators to use administrative or moderation power to improperly access, edit, or delete the account(s) or post(s) of any user of Osiran off-site property; to improperly restrict the right to free speech of Osiran citizens; to commit or aid in the commission of any other crime; or to conceal such behavior.

(e) "Harassment" is defined as the use of intimidation, blackmail, or other threatening conduct to damage the sense of security or dignity of any citizen or foreign guest of the Osiris Fraternal Order.

(f) "Bribery" is defined as any attempt to offer favors or gifts to voters or any electoral official(s) to influence any election or to the relevant official(s) to influence any appointment.

(g) "Conspiracy" is defined as any attempt to enter into a plot with one or more others to commit or conceal a high crime or felony or to aid any others in the commission or concealment of a high crime or felony.

(h) "Chronic Misdemeanor" is defined as the frequent commission of multiple misdemeanor crimes.

(i) "Felony Misdemeanor" is defined as the commission of multiple misdemeanor crimes.

2. Felony crimes will carry a minimum sentence of one month forum ban and a maximum sentence of twelve month regional and/or forum ban.

Section 4: Misdemeanor Crimes

1. The following are classified as misdemeanor crimes against the Osiris Fraternal Order:

(a) "Defamation" is defined as any attempt to publicly attack the character of a citizen or foreign guest of the Osiris Fraternal Order with unsubstantiated or imaginary claims, with the malicious intent to cause serious damage to the reputation of that individual.

(b) "Impersonation" is defined as any attempt to misrepresent one's self, for non-satirical purposes, as another known NationStates player.

(c) "Fraud" is defined as any attempt to provide false or misleading information for the purpose of obtaining any significant benefit or advantage, political or otherwise.

(d) "Judicial Contempt" is defined as any attempt to disrupt the order of the Pschent or demonstration of repeated disregard for proper judicial procedure.

(e) "Unlawful Recruitment" is defined as any attempt to recruit residents of Osiris to another region or organization in NationStates through any Osiran off-site property or, if in violation of regulations established by the Pharaoh for Regional Message Board (RMB) recruitment advertisements, through the RMB of the NationStates region Osiris.

(f) "Unlawful Posting" is defined as posting in any governmental area in which one is not authorized by the relevant government official(s) to post or excessive, out of context posting in any area of Osiran off-site property that is not designated for that purpose or on the RMB of the NationStates region Osiris.

(g) "Unlawful Campaigning" is defined as posting electoral campaign messages in any area of Osiran off-site property other than those designated by electoral officials. The definition of Unlawful Campaigning will not be construed to prohibit campaign links or imagery in forum signatures or to prohibit candidates from private outreach to voters.

2. Misdemeanor crimes will carry a maximum sentence of one month regional and/or forum ban.

Section 5: Definitions

1. For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions will apply:

(a) "Off-site property" is defined as any forum or website that exists separately from the NationStates website.

(b) "Phishing" is defined as any attempt to gain administrative or moderation power over off-site property or passwords to off-site property accounts by deception.

(c) "Crashing" is defined as any attempt to cause off-site property to permanently go out of service or lose information, including but not necessarily limited to improper deletion of posts, deletion of a forum or website, and deliberate posting of content of such a nature that it could cause a forum or website host to delete the forum or website.

(d) "Spamming" is defined as any attempt to waste or exceed server capacity or to cause off-site property to become temporarily inaccessible, including but not necessarily limited to excessive page access, excessive account creation, excessive posting, and denial of service attacks.

Section 6: Sentencing

1. The Scribe of Justice or their deputy will detail recommended sentences when prosecuting criminal offenses before the Pschent, according to the procedure established by the Pschent.

2. Sentences will include formal censures or warnings, suspension of rights in accordance with the State Code of Osiris, forum bans, in-game ejections, in-game bans, revocation of citizenship, and prohibition of future citizenship.

Section 7: Jurisdiction

1. The Osiris Fraternal Order will have jurisdiction to prosecute high crimes and felony crimes against Osiris without regard to the location or medium in which such crimes are committed.

2. The Osiris Fraternal Order will have jurisdiction to prosecute misdemeanor crimes only if they are committed on Osiran off-site property or in the NationStates region Osiris.

Section 8: Statute of Limitations

1. In order to be valid, a charge of a high crime must be brought before the Pschent by the Scribe of Justice or their deputy within twelve months of the date the alleged offense occurred.

2. In order to be valid, a charge of a felony crime must be brought before the Pschent by the Scribe of Justice or their deputy within six months of the date the alleged offense occurred.

3. In order to be valid, a charge of a misdemeanor crime must be brought before the Pschent by the Scribe of Justice or their deputy within three months of the date the alleged offense occurred.

[shetef]

I have no complaints with Cormac's draft other than his use of the term "Minister of Justice" instead of "Scribe of Seshat". I would be fine with it going to vote with that change made.

[Treize Dreizehn]

And I'd be fine with it as long as we take out that bit about defamation(and the scribe thing). Defamation is a civil offense, and civil offenses will need a completely different code to deal with them. You already included harassment, and most of what constitutes defamation is covered in that... and what isn't... we probably shouldn't be making a criminal offense.

Make those changes and I'd be prepared to move this to vote.

[Juris Lancaster]

Hold on. I would disagree with Treize....

Defamation is important I would think, because this region wants to have a culture of respect and mature thinking, then we cannot tolerate the blatant disregard for it culturally or ethnically, should it happen. I mean, unless we are going to allow people to lie about each other?

As for the Codex:

3. In order to be valid, a charge of a misdemeanor crime must be brought before the Pschent by the Scribe of Justice within one three month of the date the alleged offense occurred.

I figure, that this should be three to align with the other amounts of time.

12 months = high offense
12/2 = 6 months = Felony offense
6/2 = 3 months = misdemeanor

Also:

(h) "Chronic Felony Misdemeanor" is defined as the frequent commission of multiple misdemeanor crimes.

(And put "Chronic Misdemeanor" as a separate charge, so that also we can eventually kick them out if they are being that poisonous.)

Personally, I could see someone commit a number of these crimes at once. For instance: A person running for office could start to tell lies about their opponent to gain favor in the upcoming election. (I really hope that does not happen here, just an example *knock on wood*)

This kind of situation could lead the offender to be charged with both defamation and fraud. If both of these are being charged - then he/she should pick up Chronic Misdemeanor - if he/she is convicted of both crimes.

So, this person, upon sentencing, would pick up at least at maximum a 14 month ban: 12 months for the "Chronic Misdemeanor", 1 month for Fraud, and 1 month for Defamation. If the time is consecutive.

This also could mean that the Scribe could also have either 6 months or 8 months to compile a case, depending if the we make the time consecutive or concurrent.

Also (2):

You should really put "... or their representative..." anytime you mention a particular office. We don't want to limit the ability of cabinet-level officials to appoint someone in their stead, should real-life get in the way.

So, there is what I see so far.

[Cormac]

The reason I used Scribe of Justice instead of Scribe of Seshat is that the former language matches the language in Section 2.3(a) of the State Code, and because I didn't want to legally codify the name Seshat in case a future Pharaoh would prefer to rename the Priesthoods (which is also why that name isn't used in the State Code).

This can be made compliant with the State Code by using "Scribe of Seshat (Justice)," though, if we would prefer that -- but that will legally codify Seshat as the name of the Scribe of Justice, so be aware of that.

In regard to Defamation, I tend to agree with Juris. I initially didn't want to include any of the crimes previously classified as civil offenses at all because I felt they should be resolved between individuals and not by the Pschent, and because I felt they would result in frivolous prosecutions. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that harassment, defamation, etc. should be included because when a person is intimidated, blackmailed, or otherwise threatened, or lied about in such a way that it could significantly damage their reputation, that is harmful not only to that individual but to our entire community.

Additionally, the State Code doesn't currently allow for civil cases between citizen plaintiffs and defendants. It allows the Pschent to hear criminal trials brought by the Scribe of Seshat against a citizen (Section 5.4) or civil cases brought by an affected citizen against the government (Section 5.3). The reason civil cases between citizens weren't included, from my perspective as the primary drafter at least, was to avoid the frivolous suits that would result and because the only "damages" that could be sought would essentially be the same as in criminal cases albeit possibly less severe.

I agree with Juris' suggested revisions and will edit them in.

[Treize Dreizehn]

I'm having this exact argument in TNP, so I'll edit up my post from there to here:

Libel, slander, and defamation are civil complaints not criminal ones. Civil complaints are handled entirely differently than criminal ones, and with good reason. Hell the UN Commission on Human Rights has outright said(in 2012) that criminalization of libel(and by extension, slander or defamation) is a violation of freedom of expression.

In the US, whose law I'm most familiar with, in order for successfully prove defamation(which we can use as a catch all term for defamation, libel, and slander), you must prove the statement to be false, that the statement caused harm, and that it was not researched properly. Furthermore, public officials and celebrities must prove that "actual malice" was a factor. That is to say that the person making the claim was absolutely aware that it was false, and said it anyway. Since we're all known to each other here on a semi-personal level(and almost all of us are public officials of some kind), that is the bar we have to clear.

Even with that hurdle to clear, there are several decent defenses recognized against claims of defamation.

Does a claim make no sense, or is it completely illogical? Doesn't matter. If a reasonable person might believe the claim, it's not defamation.

Is a claim reasonable, and made in good faith? Not defamation.

Is it simply an opinion? If so, it's not defamation.

Was it a claim made in anger, or is it obvious that it's just someone striking out? Not defamation.

And then, after it's all done and over with, if all of the hurdles are cleared, if it's certain that the defamation was made with the full knowledge of it's falsehood, with intent to harm the person defamed... civil penalties are enacted, not criminal ones. You penalize the defamer in such a way to make it too costly for her to do that again. You don't take away their rights to do it again. Because that would be limiting their free speech.

Slander, libel and defamation ARE protected free speech, and they should continue to be so. If we want to codify it as a civil complaint with criminal penalties, fine, but we need a separate code for civil complaints, that can cover the nuances(and there are many) of civil cases.