The Withmore Code of Militant Justice (WCMJ) is the foundation of the criminal justice system in Withmore City. Enforced by the Withmore Justice Force, it empowers Judges to apprehend offenders, judge their crimes, and administer punishment on the scene.
The laws are guidelines for empowered, active Judges. A Judge may interpret a situation and its sentence according to the nature of the crime, imposing a more severe or more lenient punishment as they see fit. The system's stated foundation is absolute justice: no one is above the law.
The Corporate Council introduced the Code in 2050, amid rising crime and the failure of existing corporate police forces to restore order. Its adoption created the WJF and concentrated investigative, judicial, and punitive authority in the new force. Crime rates subsequently declined.
Street Judges patrol, investigate offenses, and administer sentences. They belong to the WJF's Street Justice Division, headquartered in the Withmore Hall of Justice. The Book of Law is both a working reference and one of their symbols of office.
Punishments can include fines, imprisonment, iso-cubes, clone death, banishment, and cryo-prison. The nature and severity of an offense matter, but the Code does not remove the Judge's discretion. Banishment is among the city's most severe penalties, stripping the condemned of civil rights and expelling them into the badlands with orders never to return.
The Code operates alongside the Corporate Law Act. Outside sovereign corporate facilities, the WJF upholds the Code; within such facilities, corporations may exercise their own law and punishment. Corporate sovereignty is therefore a significant distinction in how justice is administered, rather than a general exemption from consequences.
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