Crime and Punishment System

With the existence of Nukenin and corrupt or malicious village ninja, it is widely accepted that there is such a thing as crime within the roleplaying world on Ultimate Shinobi. However, this crime, especially when committed by the lawfully abiding village ninja, has largely gone unaccounted for, creating a drop in realism. Crime itself has never been fully defined either, it is rather vague to say what is and what isn't a criminal act. What this system aims to achieve is to define criminal behaviour through the creation of universal and village specific laws, as well as entailing the punishments that may be forced upon a person if found to be guilty of crimes.

Universal Laws

To help set the definition of a criminal act, this system provides a thorough list of actions that can be viewed as criminal. The list itself is one that, de facto, applies across the entire roleplaying world, meaning whether you are a ninja within Konohagakure, Kumogakure, Kirigakure or even outside of these villages, these laws shall still apply to you and punishment will still be handed out when and if caught. That said, the three villages, Konohagakure, Kumogakure and Kirigakure, hold the power to opt out of the universal laws if the acting Kage at the time so chooses. Meaning none of the universal laws may apply to somewhere such as Kirigakure, yet Konohagakure may have all the universal laws apply within their borders.



• Murder
  1. Committing of murder to an innocent civilian.
     
  2. Committing of murder to an innocent shinobi.
     
• Perverted Justice
  1. Committing of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
     
  2. Committing of intended evidence destroying or evidence forgery to pervert the course of justice.
     
  3. Committing of threats and or intimidation to witnesses and or the magistrate.
     
• Theft
  1. Committing of theft to the protected property of another.
     
• Torture
  1. Committing of physical harm to an innocent civilian or shinobi.
     
  2. Committing of mental harm to an innocent civilian or shinobi.
     
• Treason
  1. Committing of conspiracy to overthrow the Head of Village or Head of State.
     
  2. Committing of murder of the Head of Village or Head of State.
     
  3. Committing of spying on your own Head of Village or Head of State.
  
  

Village Specific Laws

While a full list of universal laws that practically all must follow exist, Kage’s, with their unique and differing opinions, may from time to time enact and enforce laws upon their village that they deem to be necessary for their village. A Kage, whether the Hokage, Raikage or the Mizukage, has the full right to propose and enact any law that they so desire, as exercising their right as the Head of Village, and do not necessarily require the approval of their own personal advisors, cabinet or council, if one is in place that is. Thus, a law, no matter how controversial it may seem, cannot be challenged or changed through any court or any meeting and is only open to amendment or removal via the person who holds the position of Kage.

As stated, the Kage has the full right to enact any law they so desire and as such the possibilities of these laws are endless. Laws can be constructed that effect when a shinobi or civilian may be out on the streets, a law could be enforced that protected the wild environment around them, a law could even be enacted that made it a criminal act to have a certain sexual orientation. In effect, villages can differ vastly from being hugely open and liberal, to being heavily isolated and dictatorial or even a mix of both. These laws have the potential to create a more engaging and interactive experience with roleplaying.

To clarify as well, village specific laws, as the title suggests, are specific only to the village that enact them. If Konohagakure no Sato were to enact a law that meant it was a criminal act to vandalise a building with paint or graffiti, this does not mean it is instantly a criminal act to perform the same actions within Kumogakure or Kirigakure no Sato. All village specific laws can be found within the Administration Buildings of each individual village.

Catching vs Killing a Criminal

When finding a person commit a crime, it’s often the most easiest solution to simply go up and kill this individual. But this presents itself with a moral decision and one that may tarnish your own reputation as well as the village’s, such as killing someone for committing a petty crime. More importantly however, it prevents the course of justice being carried out altogether and that is something we definitely don’t want. Thus, higher rewards are offered to those who catch criminals versus killing them, with each reward being greater than a third its killing equivalent. The reward is of course added to your Available Funds only.



RANK	EXP. EARNED
C - Rank	27 EXP
B - Rank	40 EXP
A - Rank	53 EXP
S - Rank	80 EXP

Punishments

Getting Caught
While a shinobi may very well perform a criminal act, it is impossible for them to face punishment without either a witness seeing the crime and reporting it or without the criminal themselves confessing to the crime. What we would dread to see is members passing information on about a crime they have read Out Of Character but not actually visually seen the crime In Character, effectively metagaming. Consequently, a member is only able to legitimately accuse another member of committing a crime if they have seen it In Character and hold proper In Character evidence to suggest that the accused member has committed the crime. In Character information that has been gathered through metagaming will be classed as illegitimate and the topic it has been posted within may be voided altogether.

Punishments
If a member has been found guilty of a crime then a punishment shall be handed out towards them via the Kage or, if this power has been devolved, a designated high ranking official. The following punishments are intended for the criminal acts designated so by the universal laws. Village specific laws may feature different punishments and thus is to the discretion of the Kage of the village.



• Murder
  1. Eleven Out Of Character days in a prison.
     
  2. Fifteen Out Of Character days in a prison.
     
• Perverted Justice
  1. Two Out Of Character days in a prison.
     
  2. Five Out Of Character days in a prison.
     
  3. Five Out Of Character days in a prison.
     
• Theft
  1. Eight Out Of Character days in a prison.
     
• Torture
  1. Eleven Out Of Character days in a prison.
     
  2. Eleven Out Of Character days in a prison.
     
• Treason
  1. Fifteen Out Of Character days in a prison.
     
  2. Twenty One Out Of Character days in a prison.
     
  3. Eleven Out Of Character days in a prison.
     

Each punishment number within each separate category correlates with the above list of Universal Laws and as such, if a member were to commit Murder Crime Two, they would receive the punishment of Ten Out Of Character days in a prison.

Crime and Punishment Stacking
One law may not be broken at a single time and in fact a person may violate several laws within the same event. As such, this leads to crimes and, if caught, punishments being stacked one on top of the other until an overall punishment period has been established. As an example, a person may have killed an innocent civilian who had a child, tortured the child with physical harm and steal any money they have held on them. As three laws were broken, three punishments must be combined together, resulting in an overall punishment of thirty Out Of Character days in a prison.

Now, we realise this is a very long time to be forced into a prison and some may grow tired of waiting so long in there if they find little to do, which you shouldn't do anyway. So to try and reduce the amount of time overall, the crime that carries the heaviest punishment is the amount of time that a criminal must spend within a prison. However, this can only be achieved through gaining the approval of the Kage of the village in which the laws were broken in. Meaning if, for example, these laws were broken in Kumogakure no Sato and you were caught and placed within a prison, you would have to seek the approval of the Raikage to have your sentence reduced. Be aware that it is not necessary for this to be roleplayed out and simply Private Messaging or contacting the respective Kage in some other form is completely allowable, so long as evidence can be presented of the approval.

Indefinite Imprisonment and the Death Penalty
When a criminal has committed some of the most heinous and toxic of crimes, release from a prison is simply not an option. Instead, the criminal is kept locked away within the walls of the prison for the rest of their lives, with their only way of exit being through a daring escape or a dishonourable suicide attempt. However such a punishment cannot be handed out willy nilly. The only way such a sentence can be handed out is if the criminal has committed crimes that equal to forty five Out Of Character days worth of punishment or if the criminal is a repeat offender that is ranked A - Rank or above. A final and most controversial sentence that can be sent out is the death penalty. This sentence is one that will require the criminal to have committed enough crime that equals to sixty Out Of Character days worth of prison or if the criminal is of Nukenin affiliation at S - Rank level. To prevent unfair sentencing, each time the death penalty is sentenced, it will require a majority approval from the Administrator's. As with any roleplaying, the death penalty must be roleplayed out by the criminal, executioner and any others involved.

Prisons

From the information given above, it is now obvious that prisons will play a proper role within this system and on Ultimate Shinobi. Each village, and effectively each country, will feature their own prison where convicted prisoners will be placed. With each village being unique in their own way, you will find that all prisons will differ in appearance, security and practices. A certain prison may be placed above ground with several guards on duty within the prison that allows for the prison to have access to open air, literature or other constructive entertainment sources. Whereas another prison may be placed underground that is heavily guarded both on the inside and outside, while the prisoners themselves are forbidden any sources of entertainment and are instead sent down to work within a mine. Ultimately, the prisons, like the village specific laws, come under the control of the Kage and may feature changes when a new Kage is placed in office.

Previous Topics
If, by chance, you had already been roleplaying with other members or even by yourself before committing the crime and these topics are still active even after being placed into a prison, then we are allowing you to continue roleplaying within these topics until they are completed. New topics though are not allowed to be created other than within the walls of the prison. Only after you have been released or escaped the prison are you able to create new roleplaying topics.

Pardons

When being released from a prison, you face the difficult path of being reintegrated back into your village, but not so fast unfortunately. As a criminal, you will be heavily looked down upon by your former friends and colleagues and even the face possibility of facing a demotion. Upon the Kage’s word, your fate is decided after your release. If the Kage decides to offer you an unconditional pardon, then you are able to carry on as normal. If they offer you a demoted pardon, then you are able to carry on as normal, however suffer a demotion in rank. A Kage must give you one of the two, but only the demotional pardon can be handed out if it is being cast upon a village shinobi specific to that village. As an example, the Hokage cannot hand out a demotional pardon to a Kirigakure or Kumogakure shinobi, as the criminals do not belong to their own village.

Law Exclusion Zones

With areas in the world that are populated by the most vile and hated persons, in other words Nukenin, the existence of law exclusion zones appears within the world. These zones mean that all laws, whether village specific or universal, are rendered meaningless and do not apply to anyone while within the zones. The current list of law exclusion zones include:

The Forbidden Oasis
The Treehouse
Cavernous Tranquillity
The Igloo