Laws

Politics

Conservative Party

• Key points:
  • Would like to see gun ban repealed
  • Concerned with morality laws and do not support legalization of licensed companions, gender adjustments, or chemical balancing
  • Do not support Adjusted Population (also known as Procreation Regulation)
    • Notable Conservative Party members:
      • Gerald DeBlass
• According to Dallas, members of the Conservative Party, "like to stomp around every few years and talk about how it's against the rules of God and humankind to prolong life by artificial means."

Liberal Party

• Key points:
  • Support the gun ban
  • Support legalized prostitution and gender adjustments
  • Advocate Adjusted Population
    • Notable Liberal Party members:
      • George Pearly

Moderate Party

• Key points:
  • Unknown
    • Notable Moderate:
      • [ex] Chief Edward Simpson (he ran on this ticket but has been moving toward the Conservative Party)
      • Richard DeBlass

Regulation

Computer Crimes

• It is illegal to own or operate unregistered equipment just as it is illegal to 'hide' or mask transmissions to avoid detection by CompuGuard.
  • Eve: "A nonregistered system is in violation of Code four fifty-three-B, section thirty-five." – (see also: CompuGuard)
    • Memo books are not required to be registered with CompuGuard.

Customs (Import/Export)

• Bringing an unknown from off planet can get you twenty years in maximum lockup.

Drugs

• They tried a war on them, legalizing them, ignoring them, and regulating them. Nothing seemed to work.
  • Tobacco is illegal except in free space, international waters, or on private property (also allowed in closed privacy booths).
• Politically, these illegals (Whore and Wild Rabbit) are a hot button. We go soft on a supplier, we'll have feminist organizations, social balance, and moral watchdog groups taking numbers to kick us in the teeth.
• Selling illegals for personal use, not for resale, may carry a fine and community service; selling it 'at cost', without profit, keeps the fine down.

Environment

• When Eve found a knife with a fancy handle, carved out of what might have been genuine ivory, it would have made it an antique – or an international crime. Harvesting ivory, or purchasing it in any form had been outlawed planetwide for more than half a century after the near extinction of African elephants.
• Due to environmental concerns, 'Green Cops' regulate and enforce laws involving restricted products and procedures that may have some negative environmental impact. Roarke Industries is green and does not manufacture unrecycled paper; "Just our little contribution to environmental responsibility, which also earns a healthy tax break in most markets."
  • Banned List in the US:
    • Unrecycled paper products

Government

• "The Revised Patriot Act, section 3 implemented 2040, specifically gives the government carte blanche to demand and receive personal data on any citizen, while secreting data on their own.
• The Two Term Bill has been repealed. A senator can retain his or her seat for life if he or she can get reelected.

Federal Property Security

• According to the revised Federal Property Act of 2022, anyone entering a federal building must hand over all weapons, law enforcement official or not (this is shown at the New Senate Office Building, East Washington, and came as a result of the terrorist hit in which a couple dozen legislators were killed).

UN Security

• Dallas and Peabody surrendered their weapons at the UN; their badges were scanned; their fingerprints verified; Peabody's bag was scanned, then hand-searched; and all electronics, including 'links, PPCs, and communicators, were taken through analysis. They passed through a metal detector, an incendiary device detector, a weapon identifier, and a body scanner. Some security levels were added after the Cassandra incident.

Human Rights

(Note: Some of these laws may fall under privacy laws, may fall under rights of minors, etc. but the list has been consolidated for efficiency)

• Cloning: Human cloning is forbidden under international law. "There are rumbles now and then about underground reproductive cloning research, even the occasional claim of success. But the laws are so strict, so onerous and universal, no one's come out and proved it."
• Human Trafficking: The practice of selling humans is illegal, globally.
• Minors: By law, the implants carried inside any minor must be removed. Internal implants are in direct violation of privacy laws.
• Minors: Minors cannot be interviewed without the presence of a licensed counselor without the express permission of said minor's parents or legal guardians. One parent or guardian per child is allowed during the interview.
• Minors: It is a misdemeanor to perform sexual acts in an educational facility when minors are present; it is also grounds for dismissal and grounds for the revocation of the right to teach in the state of New York.
• Minors: If a minor commits multiple premeditated murders, that minor may be tried as an adult (legal adult status).
• An individual's DNA must be volunteered. However, once somebody is being interviewed, it's legal to get DNA from the beverage they were drinking. One such instance was in Faithless in Death, when Gwen Huffman's DNA was obtained from the backwash left in her tube of sparkling water.

YANNI

• The public broadcasting of executions was banned in this country in 2012, five years before the Supreme Court once again ruled that capital punishment was unconstitutional (c. 2017).
  • Capital punishment was abolished less than two decades ago (c. late 2030's/early 2040's).

Media

• A revised media bill passed thirty years ago [currently 2058 - would have passed around 2028]. A reporter is allowed to flavor a story with opinion as long as it's stated as such.
• A perpetrator has the right to chose his own media, or to refuse it all together.
• Once a crime scene is posted, the media loses access to it; media equipment cannot be confiscated until/unless the scene is posted.
• Sources are protected.

Police Procedures and Codes

• Standard departmental procedure meant... Any officer whose discharge of weapon resulted in termination of life was required to undergo emotional and psychiatric clearance (Testing) before resuming duty.
  • Any discharge of a weapon meant paperwork.
• Under normal circumstance there would have been two other investigators on a homicide scene, with recorders for sound and pictures. Forensics would have been waiting with their usual snarly impatience to sweep the scene.
  • Other Investigators:
    • Crime scene/sweepers (forensics)
    • Medical examiner
• All evidence in a capital crime is confidential.
• Bribing a police officer is a felony.
• There's a law against soliciting a police officer.
• Suspects can be held for forty-eight hours without being charged.
• Code 83B, subsection J – "It's not a request," Eve said evenly. "I want these doors open now or I'll be forced to break in under Code 83B, subsection J."
• This substance contains an unknown, and is not yet rated, which under Article Six, Section Nine, Code B, puts all related cases under the investigative head of Illegals.
• It is against department code for a superior officer to use offensive language to a uniform.
• 'link sex [as in 'phone sex'] is illegal over an official (police) line.
• IAB has no authority to compromise a homicide investigation in order to protect one of its own operations. Providing false information is a violation of code.
• An officer does not have to reveal his or her source utilized during an investigation, most specifically a priority investigation. This information is protected under Departmental Code 12, Article 86-B ...
• The police must have a warrant to enter or confiscate private property without the owner's permission. An exception to this is if the door is unsecured and the officers suspect a crime is taking place (i.e. break-in).
• NYPSD has the authority to override the command of other authorities when a criminal, in this case a homicide suspect, has traveled from one area to another. Dallas, as the homicide lieutenant, followed a suspect into Grand Central which gave her power to override Captain Stuart of the New York City Transit Authority.
• Electronic surveillance of a police officer, who has not been charged or is not suspected of a crime or an infraction of law, violates federal and state privacy codes as well as department regs [regulations].
• (see also Revised Miranda)

Police Property

• Tampering with police property can get you eighteen months under home security.
• Unauthorized use of police vehicles is an unlawful act and punishable by up to five years imprisonment and a monetary fine of five thousand US dollars.
• A master code wouldn't have broken the police security [on the door].

Private Property

• Tampering with security will get you six months house arrest.
• Breaking and entering and private property trespass also mentioned.

Sex

• Licensed Companions must be 18 years of age before they can apply for their license.
  • Licensed Companions are "tested physically to ensure against disease or condition. You undergo some psychiatric evals [evaluations], to hopefully eliminate any sexual deviants or predators. And to keep your license current, you're required to have regular exams... The level of your license is determined not only by your preference, but your skills. Intelligence, knowledge of art and entertainment, your... style."
• "Any sexual act in a secured area is a misdemeanor" - an LC could, for this infraction, have his or her license suspended for six months.

Violent Crime

• Manslaughter Two (likely involuntary) carries a penalty of five to ten years imprisonment. Zero, who was charged and plead down to Man Two, would serve at least part of that sentence, lose his license and pay a lot in fees and fines.

Weapons

• Feeney: "... They stopped making them [handguns] in about twenty-two, twenty-three (2022/2023), when the gun ban was passed."
  • To own antique handguns, a collector's license is required.
  • The police issue NS Laser is illegal for civilians or collectors to own.

Zoning/Other Ordinances

• Zoning ordinances cover out-of-doors vending like Glide-carts and street hawkers.
• The Rapid cab behind her broke the intercity noise pollution code by blasting his horn and shouting curses through his speaker.
• It is against city ordnance to zap (stun) wildlife.
• Peabody's parents say that, instead of staying with Peabody, they would just stay in their camper. Peabody warns them that that is against city ordinance and Dallas encourages her to get them into a hotel before they get cited.
• Codes 752 and 821: operating live sex acts without a license and operating a gambling establishment without a license led to the arrest of J.P. Felix, allowing Roarke to purchase a hotel

Other

• Security. When referring to the problems in his hotel/casino on Sector 38, Roarke said everyone has private security and that criminal cases are transferred to the magistrate – unless they can be dealt with privately (through bribes).
• Victim and Survivor's Protection Act: David Palmer's parents, Thomas and Helen Palmer, changed their names and relocated. They are now known as Thomas and Helen Smith; once their identities were changed, their files were sealed. It's also referred to as Witness Protection.
• Vital Records: Vital Records are typically maintained at the state level in the United States and include records of birth , death, marriages, and other 'life events'. (See also Vital Records). Dallas, after looking through the data on the Swisher family, thought to herself that three of the names of those family members would be listed as deceased with Vital Records by the end of the day.

Other Agencies/Law Enforcement/Security

• Central Intelligence Agency
• CompuGuard
• Chicago Police and Security Department
• Dallas Police and Security Department
• EuroCom
• European Watch Network
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Global Bureau
• Green Cops
• Homeland Security Organization
• Interplanetary Law Enforcement
• Interpol
• James County Sheriff's Department
• New Jersey Police and Security Department
• New Jersey Transit Police
• New Los Angeles Police & Security Department
• NYPSD; EDD; IAB
• Philadelphia Police and Security Department
• Space Traffic Control

Punishment Facilities

Attica Two

• Off-planet incarceration for felons, mentioned in Vengeance in Death as: "the facilities there make on-planet cages look like country clubs."

Dockport Rehabilitation Center

• On-planet facility located in Chicago, Illinois
  • Named inhabitants:
    • Julianna Dunne
    • Lois Loop
    • Maria Sanchez

Gordon Institution

• Psychiatric institution (for mental defectives), presumably in New York
  • Employee:
    • Dr. Ivan Horowitz - psychiatrist
  • Named inhabitant:
    • Ethan Crommell

Kent Prison

• New York prison containing a mental defective ward, mentioned in Loyalty in Death
  • Named inhabitants:
  • Peter Johnson
  • Milicent Jung
  • Carl Minnu
  • Susan B. Stoops

Penal Station Omega

• Off-planet facility
  • Named guards/employees:
    • Cecil Rouche
    • Art Zeban
  • Named inhabitants:
    • David Baines Conroy
    • Eve Dallas threatens Lewis, one of Max Ricker's men with incarceration there.
    • Max Ricker

Rexal Penal Facility

• Off-planet facility
  • Named inhabitant:
    • David Palmer

Rikers

• On-planet facility located in New York, NY
  • Named Guard:
    • Kim Sung
  • Named inhabitants:
    • David Angelini
    • Jaynene Brenegan
    • Otis Gunn
    • Madeline Bullock
    • Bebe Petrelli
    • Illya Schooner
    • Nattie Simpson
    • Tito Solas

Weizt Rehabilitation Complex

• Dallas likens it to a country club; mentioned in Survivor in Death.