Criminal justice system of Caphiria

The criminal justice system of Caphiria is part of the Judiciary of Caphiria. Responsibility for criminal law and criminal justice in Caphiria is handled by the Ministry of Justice. Caphiria's criminal justice system features three primary tiers - the investigative system, the criminal court system, and the correctional system.

Types and classes of crimes

Caphiria's Penal Code provides for three classes of crimes including felony, misdemeanor and petty offense, as well as minimum sentencing requirements and whose classifications determine what type of court tries a case

The penal law provides that the court shall determine the sentence, but provides for maximums and minimums for each type of national crime. Provinces may adopt laws assigning penalties which exceed national law, and in those cases higher courts defer to provincial law for sentencing. There are five types of crimes established nationwide - First-class Felonies, Second-class Felonies, delicts, and infractions.

Petty misdemeanors and infractions are tried by prefectural courts, while the remainder of these national violations can be tried by district courts or by provincial courts with national charges added in addition to the primary charge brought forward by the province.

An attempt to commit a felony is itself a crime, whereas an attempt to commit a misdemeanor is a crime only if specifically prescribed as such by law.

Felony class

First-class

In Caphiria, First-class felonies are crimes of the most seriousness. They may be either violent or nonviolent. First-class felonies carries with it a mandatory life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole or the death sentence in the case of a few specific crimes. The most common first-class felonies are grave crimes, such as treason, rape, and murder, each of which can be punishable by death, as well as kidnapping, regicide, criminal conspiracy in the first degree, and criminal conspiracy to overthrow the state. Additional first-class felonies may be crimes against peace, crimes of apartheid, forced disappearance, attempted genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, the act of genocide, incitement to genocide, grand piracy, sexual slavery, unlawful/forced slavery, unlawful torture, waging a war of aggression, and war crimes

Second-class

Second-class felonies are not as severe as first-class felonies, but are still crimes of high seriousness. Like with first-class felonies, second-class felonies may be either violent or nonviolent. Second-class felonies carry a maximum of 25 years and a minimum of three years in the case of nonviolent felonies or six years with the possibility of parole after three years for violent felonies. Examples of second-class felonies are arson, animal cruelty, aggravated assault or battery, bribery, forgery, fraud, robbery, manslaughter, organized crime, perjury, tax evasion, criminal possession of narcotics with the intent to sell, criminal diversion of pharmaceuticals, threatening a magistrate, and blackmail.

Misdemeanor class

Delicts

Delicts are based around the idea of wrongful conduct and is an intentional or negligent act which gives rise to a legal obligation between parties even though there necessarily isn't a contract between them. When considering pursuing such a claim, one must prove, in addition to the existence of some recognized form of loss, that three additional criteria have been met: firstly one must demonstrate that the pursuer was owed a duty of care, secondly one must prove that the defender breached this duty of care and lastly one must show a causal link between the defender's breach of the duty of care and the loss complained of by the pursuer. Delicts carry a maximum punishment of 12 months of incarceration.

Examples of delicts are assault, petty theft, invasions of privacy and interference with property, false imprisonment, unlawful prostitution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and defamation.

Infractions

Infractions are the least severe type of crime and are certain minor or petty offenses that may be proceeded against summarily, and without a jury. The appointed judge, or a panel of three magistrates, decides the guilt or innocence of the accused. Each infraction is specified by statute which describes the (usually minor) offence and the judge to hear it. These can include criminal and civil citations, where a person may be charged with a criminal or non-criminal infraction without the need of a physical arrest, such as in cases of non-violent fineable violations, crimes that carry little incarceration time, or non-criminal acts such as speeding. Other examples of infractions include public intoxication, simple assault, disorderly conduct, trespassing, shoplifting, vandalism, reckless driving, indecent exposure.

Correctional system

Main article: Correctional system of Caphiria

The final step in the criminal justice system is the correctional system. The correctional system of Caphiria (including prisons) operates under the Department of Incarceration, part of the Ministry of Justice. The Department of Incarceration has the primary role, responsibility and authority to change prison laws, rules and regulations.The correctional system is split between an administrative detention system and a judicial incarceration system, each with its own types of staff, facilities, and procedures. Caphirian law makes a legal distinction between the concepts of detainment, indictment, and imprisonment. As such, the balance of power is spread very evenly across the correctional system and the legal system, and the legal authority across the various departments is very clear.

Administrative detention

The administrative detention system is composed of public security departments at the township, regional, and provincial levels of Caphiria. These public security departments can issue detention orders and hold detainees at their own detention centers for a maximum of 90 days. There are two types of legal detainment: administrative and compulsory.

The Urban Cohort oversees the public security departments across Caphiria and trains the public security officers (oesitior). Despite being trained by the CU, an oesitior does not possess the same authority as a main field agent (vigilum); the most important distinction being public security officers do not have the power to arrest.

An oesitior can summon a civilian for investigative purposes, and can use force if the civilian refuses to cooperate, and when approved by a superior officer. Caphirian law states oesitiors can not question citizens on authorized grounds more than eight hours, unless the citizen has violation that could result in administrative detention, in which case, the questioning could be extended to 24 hours. Caphirian law also states public security officers can not question someone for more than twelve hours, unless that someone is a major suspect of a crime, in which case it could be extended to twenty four hours. If an Oesitior found enough evidence for a crime, they can submit it to the Ministry of Justice (or more commonly, passing it through the CU) to ask permission from a Procurator for an arrest, or if there is limited evidence or considered misdemeanor, they can impose administrative detention for up to fourteen days.

The most common type of detention, administrative detention, is for misdemeanors in accordance with the law for up to fifteen days or thirty days for multiple misdemeanors. Teenagers of sixteen years old or younger, and women who are pregnant or feeding an infant less than one years old are exempt. Teenagers aged fifteen to seventeen are exempt from their first misdemeanor. Due to Caphiria's lack of formal juvenile facilities, administrative detention centers are used in place for juvenile offenders.

Compulsory rehabilitation, the second type of administrative detention, is typically imposed on drug addicts who refuse or failed community rehabilitation, or who began to reuse after previous community rehabilitation for a duration of two years ordinarily. As with administrative detention, local public security departments issue the order for compulsory rehabilitation. Rehabilitation centers are often run by the public security departments and, in some places, in cooperation with public health departments. Compulsory rehabilitation may also be used as a form of treatment for other types of addiction or mental health illness. Compulsory rehabilitation programs are in three month "blocks", which guides prisoners in “structured activities” to help prisoners with alcoholism, drug abuse, and mental illness through individual and group therapy.

Incarceration system

The incarceration system's main responsibilities are to ensure the completion of criminal penalties by convicted persons. The management and administration of prisons and adjacent correctional institutions are operated by the Department of Incarceration, which also ensures the protection of the prisoners’ physical well-being and rights under the Caphirian government. The incarceration system is intended to resocialize, reform, and rehabilitate offenders. As the principal law enforcement agency, the IPF is responsible for responding to calls for service, investigating criminal activity, and regularly patrolling high-crime areas.

There are three types of "incarceration institutions" operated by the Department of Incarceration: open prisons, prisons, and provincial prisons.

The Department of Incarceration maintains a local head office in each province. There, a prison service department controls the organization of the prison service, personnel matters, basic and advanced training for prison staff, budgets, construction, cooperation in prison service legislation, the employment of prisoners, and vocational training and education for prisoners. It also reviews petitions and complaints and its representatives visit and inspect the prisons regularly.

The incarceration system designates each facility under one of several security levels. Most prisons and provincial prisons where offenders serve sentences of less than 24 months, or are held in pre-trial and pre-sentence custody, have cells at different security levels within the same facility.