[Defeated] Criminal Code Amendment and Introduction Act

[Wymondham]

I would like to present a Criminal Code Introduction and Amendmenr Act for discussion by the Council of Scribes: Criminal Code Amendment and Introduction Act

(1) The following text shall be amended into the Scroll of Ma’at as Article |II, Section 6, Subsection 11:

(11)The council of Priests may only charge and prosecute a citizen with a crime that is defined by the Criminal Code of Osiris and only sentence a citizen in accordance with the Criminal Code of Osiris.

(2) The following shall be amended into the Scroll of Ma’at as Article I, Section 3, Subsections 3 to 5 and all subsequent sections shall be appropriately renumbered.

(3)Citizens have the right to a speedy, public and fair hearing before the Council of Priests for any criminal charges and may only be prosecuted with crimes detailed in the Criminal Code of Osiris.
(4) When there is a conflict between the law or policy in place at the time of a hearing before the Council of Priests and the law or policy in place at the time of an alleged criminal offense, the law in place at the time of the hearing, with respect to the accused, will be used.
(5) Citizens have the right to petition the Council of Priests for the redress of grievances when they believe a law or government action contradicts this constitution or laws made pursuant to this constitution.

[big[(3) The following text shall be amended into the Legal Code of the Osiris Fraternal Order as Article 1, Section 1, Subsection 8:[/big]

(8) All citizens are required to comply with the Criminal Code of the Osiris Fraternal Order.

The following is defined as the Criminal Code of the Osiris Fraternal Order

The Criminal Code of the Osiris Fraternal Order Section 1: Institution and Purpose of the Code

1. The Criminal Code of the Osiris Fraternal Order, hereafter referred to as the Code, will be the fundamental basis 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. Enemies of Osiris are those defined by Section 4, Article 6 and Section 3, Article 2 of the Legal Code of the Osiris Fraternal Order .

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

(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.

(f) "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.

(g) "Conspiracy to commit a High Crime" is defined as any attempt to conspire to commit a high crime of Osiris by ones self or with others.

2. High crimes will carry 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) "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 behaviour. Administrative Abuse carries a maximum sentence of permanent regional and/or forum ban, revocation of citizenship, and/or permanent prohibition of future citizenship.

(d) "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.

(e) "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.

(f) "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.

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

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

2. Felony crimes will carry a maximum sentence of two year regional and/or forum ban. Except in the case of Administrative abuse which carries a maximum sentence of permanent regional and/or forum ban, revocation of citizenship, and/or permanent prohibition of future citizenship.

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 a twelve 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 Pharaoh, Chief Vizier or a designated deputy will detail recommended sentences when prosecuting criminal offenses before the Council of Priests, according to the procedure established by the Council of Priests.

2. Sentences will include formal censures or warnings, suspension of rights in accordance with the Scroll of Ma’at, forum bans, in-game ejections, in-game bans, revocation of citizenship, and Persona Non Grata declaration.
3. The administrative team may at any time issue any sanction they believe necessary outside of this code.

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 Council of Priests by the Pharaoh, Chief Vizier or a designated 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 Council of Priests by the Pharaoh, Chief Vizier or a designated deputy within nine 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 Council of Priests by the Pharaoh, Chief Vizier or a designated deputy within six months of the date the alleged offense occurred.

[Wymondham]

Edit: SPAG

[Cormac]

(11)The council of Priests may only Charge and prosecute a citizen with a crime that is defined by the Criminal Code of Osiris and only Sentence a citizen in accordance with the Criminal Code of Osiris.

"Charge" and "Sentence" don't need to be capitalized.

(5) Citizens have the right to petition the Council of Priests for the redress of grievances when they believe a law or government action contradicts this constitution or laws made pursuant to this constitution.

I'm against this. The Council of Priests is already empowered to resolve interpretive challenges. Adding a right will only lead to the Council of Priests being forced to hear each and every interpretive challenge, which will lead to them wasting time hearing frivolous challenges.

(4)Citizenship may only be revoked in accordance with this constitution and only if the citizen in question has committed a crime that is defined in the Criminal Code of Osiris.

I'm strongly against this. This would essentially gut the Pharaoh's power to suspend or revoke citizenship for security reasons, a power which has been in place, in some form, since the crisis involving the Grey Wardens necessitated a state of emergency to resolve it. That state of emergency was needed precisely because we were hamstrung by the law and could only remove citizenship by prosecuting someone for a crime, which was a problem in that the Grey Wardens present in Osiris at the time had not committed any crime that was already on the books, and also because there were Grey Wardens serving as judges. Had the state of emergency not been declared, the only recourse for taking action against Grey Wardens in Osiris would have been to recall the two Wardens serving as judges and then to declare war against the Grey Wardens, which then would have made their continued participation in the Wardens sedition. We opted for a state of emergency because it seemed less extreme than a declaration of war.

Given that we no longer have any state of emergency power, and given that a state of emergency is undesirable in any case, we don't want to hamstring ourselves again by reverting to the exact same circumstances that led to the state of emergency in 2016. So this language is going to have to be completely stricken from the legislation, or I'll be forced to vote against the legislation. We can't go back to a situation in which we are so ensnared by our laws that we are unable to act against threats to Osiris, leaving violation of the law -- which is to say, the Pharaoh taking unilateral and illegal action -- as the only recourse. That has happened too many times in Osiris in the past and we keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Otherwise though, Wym, this is a good effort. I hope we can agree to remove the problematic language and then I'll be glad to support it. I would like to see the Criminal Code formatted like our other laws though, which is to say I would like to see it included in a quote box and with a centered and bolded title. We should try to remain consistent in our formatting, even if it does seem nitpicky. Some regions have laws regarding formatting and I'd rather not go that route, but we don't want various laws formatted in very different ways, it leads to confusion.

[Wymondham]

Edit: more SPAG and removed unesecerray capitalisation

[Wymondham]

Oops double post

[Wymondham]

Edit: Formatting

[Kylia Quilor]

I'm strongly against this. This would essentially gut the Pharaoh's power to suspend or revoke citizenship for security reasons, a power which has been in place, in some form, since the crisis involving the Grey Wardens necessitated a state of emergency to resolve it. That state of emergency was needed precisely because we were hamstrung by the law and could only remove citizenship by prosecuting someone for a crime, which was a problem in that the Grey Wardens present in Osiris at the time had not committed any crime that was already on the books, and also because there were Grey Wardens serving as judges. Had the state of emergency not been declared, the only recourse for taking action against Grey Wardens in Osiris would have been to recall the two Wardens serving as judges and then to declare war against the Grey Wardens, which then would have made their continued participation in the Wardens sedition. We opted for a state of emergency because it seemed less extreme than a declaration of war.

Given that we no longer have any state of emergency power, and given that a state of emergency is undesirable in any case, we don't want to hamstring ourselves again by reverting to the exact same circumstances that led to the state of emergency in 2016. So this language is going to have to be completely stricken from the legislation, or I'll be forced to vote against the legislation. We can't go back to a situation in which we are so ensnared by our laws that we are unable to act against threats to Osiris, leaving violation of the law -- which is to say, the Pharaoh taking unilateral and illegal action -- as the only recourse. That has happened too many times in Osiris in the past and we keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Is there any sort of language you would support that would at least regulate the Pharaoh's ability to remove citizenship at will? I'm not entirely comfortable with the notion that the Pharaoh can just go 'boop, you're not a citizen anymore' without any limits (and if I missed any existing limits, please forgive me, I have not yet completely memorized the Scrolls from top to bottom).

I do agree with that there are situations of security threats (not to mention cases of RL behavior that stand beyond any sort of roleplay (in the sense that none of us are actually citizens of a country that doesn't really exist - its all as OOC as anything in NS gets) court's ability to deal with effectively - such as what Anumia was doing in Europeia behind the scenes) or when the situation demands immediate action. So I agree that change needs to be unchanged. Still, some sort of useful-broad-based language would be good so it isn't purely at Pharaohanic whim?

As to the rest of this, my first thought is that Electoral Fraud really should go into High Crimes - its an offense directly at the foundations of our society, and its the sort of thing that can lead to coups, emergency crisis actions and civil wars (see: Lazarus, with both sides accusing the other of varying shades of what could be called Electoral Fraud, sort of).

[Wymondham]

I'm strongly against this. This would essentially gut the Pharaoh's power to suspend or revoke citizenship for security reasons, a power which has been in place, in some form, since the crisis involving the Grey Wardens necessitated a state of emergency to resolve it. That state of emergency was needed precisely because we were hamstrung by the law and could only remove citizenship by prosecuting someone for a crime, which was a problem in that the Grey Wardens present in Osiris at the time had not committed any crime that was already on the books, and also because there were Grey Wardens serving as judges. Had the state of emergency not been declared, the only recourse for taking action against Grey Wardens in Osiris would have been to recall the two Wardens serving as judges and then to declare war against the Grey Wardens, which then would have made their continued participation in the Wardens sedition. We opted for a state of emergency because it seemed less extreme than a declaration of war.

Given that we no longer have any state of emergency power, and given that a state of emergency is undesirable in any case, we don't want to hamstring ourselves again by reverting to the exact same circumstances that led to the state of emergency in 2016. So this language is going to have to be completely stricken from the legislation, or I'll be forced to vote against the legislation. We can't go back to a situation in which we are so ensnared by our laws that we are unable to act against threats to Osiris, leaving violation of the law -- which is to say, the Pharaoh taking unilateral and illegal action -- as the only recourse. That has happened too many times in Osiris in the past and we keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.

Is there any sort of language you would support that would at least regulate the Pharaoh's ability to remove citizenship at will? I'm not entirely comfortable with the notion that the Pharaoh can just go 'boop, you're not a citizen anymore' without any limits (and if I missed any existing limits, please forgive me, I have not yet completely memorized the Scrolls from top to bottom).

I do agree with that there are situations of security threats (not to mention cases of RL behavior that stand beyond any sort of roleplay (in the sense that none of us are actually citizens of a country that doesn't really exist - its all as OOC as anything in NS gets) court's ability to deal with effectively - such as what Anumia was doing in Europeia behind the scenes) or when the situation demands immediate action. So I agree that change needs to be unchanged. Still, some sort of useful-broad-based language would be good so it isn't purely at Pharaohanic whim?

As to the rest of this, my first thought is that Electoral Fraud really should go into High Crimes - its an offense directly at the foundations of our society, and its the sort of thing that can lead to coups, emergency crisis actions and civil wars (see: Lazarus, with both sides accusing the other of varying shades of what could be called Electoral Fraud, sort of).

Personally I agree and if there are no objections soon I will amend that into the proposal

[Kylia Quilor]

Also, Treason, Sedition and Espianoge (and electoral Fraud) should also include "conspiracy to commit" sections - if we can only prosecute them for treason when they try something, even if they break rules 1 and 2 of Fight Club and like, I don't know, all sign their names to a pact to overthrow the Pharaoh (and a screengrab of that signing arrives in the Government's hands) that's a little silly. I mean, that's an extreme example, but there's a reason its against the law in most IRL nations to engage in conspiracies to commit various crimes (though they also do tend to hold lesser punishments, broadly)

[Wymondham]

Also, Treason, Sedition and Espianoge (and electoral Fraud) should also include "conspiracy to commit" sections - if we can only prosecute them for treason when they try something, even if they break rules 1 and 2 of Fight Club and like, I don't know, all sign their names to a pact to overthrow the Pharaoh (and a screengrab of that signing arrives in the Government's hands) that's a little silly. I mean, that's an extreme example, but there's a reason its against the law in most IRL nations to engage in conspiracies to commit various crimes (though they also do tend to hold lesser punishments, broadly)

Added conspiracy to commit a high crime and moved election fraud.