Sigvor starts to pace back and forth as she considers more about what she knows concerning the operation of Tritol’s legal system. She used to be around family members who were tangled with the underworld. Every so often, some of the unlucky ones would be caught by the city guards, tried in a courtroom and convicted.
There were instances where she was allowed to visit the courthouses in question with her cousin which allowed her to get a glimpse into what sentencing looked like for even the smallest offenses. She and her cousin would sometimes sneak into other trials besides the ones involving her own family.
Every so often, especially in these parts of the city filled with nonhumans, she would see beastkin kids on trial, elderly demihumans on trial, pregnant women, the intellectually disabled…
For maybe nine out of ten cases, the convict was clearly innocent or otherwise doing something that prosecutors, the Holy Advocates, would not spend their time with… at least if the defendant was a normal human. The judges, several of whom were honorary Priests and Bishops of the Church in this city, were all human and appointed by the noble-run state.
These judges were the ones who deliberate on guilt and sentencing.
Unlike Western Britannia, there is no jury system in the Federation’s provinces. For a demihuman, if you’re caught by the guards and get on their bad side, you’re fucked. That mere fact went to show just how brave the earlier day’s protesters against the statue march were. Sigvor continues.
“Criminal slavery is… brutal for kids. After they become enslaved, if they’re kids that are unable to do real manual labor, they’ll likely be sent to a noble or wealthy commoner estate to do… who knows? There’s minimal oversight to the treatment of prison slaves in either scenario.”
Shaula crosses her arms while biting her right thumb. During her research on this nation, she tried looking for books concerning the legal system’s procedures and rules. Yet, most libraries and bookstores around the city didn’t have such books on hand. She had not thought much about it after she gave up looking a couple weeks ago.
She did find books about law and justice written by the Federation, but there were no books that discussed how the indicted were tried by the state, convicted and punished. The roles of judges, city guards and Holy Advocates were not mentioned in enough detail either.
The disparities in sentencing, the conditions of imprisonment and prison labor, the involvement of children in this system… She hadn’t even considered looking into any of this.
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I need to be more thorough in the future. I never really thought about it because I just assumed it was about as bad as back home. No… it’s much worse in so many cases… So much more barbaric… Well, this is a theocratic aristocracy after all, the fuck was I expecting?
Sigvor continues, her expression hardened in sorrow.
“Prison slaves are really completely on their own. Guards only check up on a slave if they’ve died, and even then, most of the slave masters can bribe the investigators or fabricate alibis to prevent implicating themselves. It’s not like there are thorough investigations done for prisoner deaths… Considering the two kids are demihuman orphans with no families, then–”
“Stop. Stop, I get what you’re saying so… just stop.”
Shaula feels sick to her stomach. After hearing all of this, she could not ignore things even if she was inclined to. She had to intervene before the children could face such fates. The guards in this city were definitely capable of anything, but she had hardly even considered the prosecutors or the judges. She should have, but hindsight is 20/20.
The guards were capable of calling forth a fucking terrorist cell to do their dirty work. I’m sure they’d love it if a couple of innocent kids were hollowed out, first by the legal system, then by the depths of depravity that the wealthy and powerful are capable of. Who knows how cruel the legal system bureaucracy in general will be. Even back home, I’ve heard of unconvicted suspects being sent to prison directly and being kept there for years while awaiting a criminal trial to actually take place… Fuck.
“How do I get them out of this, Sigvor? No fucking way am I going to allow anything that horrible to happen to these kids… My current plan right now is to walk into the precinct and bail them out. I have enough money on me right now to make that happen.”
“...Bail. For beastkin children like that who attacked a guard, the price would be… at least 3 gold coins minimum. I’ve seen some kids need seven for being in the wrong place or ‘obstructing’, just because the guards were pissed off or felt they were ‘disrespected’.”
“That’s…”
Shaula knew that a silver was worth 25 copper and a gold coin was 25 silver, meaning that 3 gold were worth 75 silver. She had about 500 silver in her purse right now so she could cover it. Yet, she feels only ire at the bail amount.
Three gold coins was equivalent to about $10000 back on Earth while seven gold was worth around $20000, assuming a copper coin was worth at least $5 as she and Ajax had approximated earlier. Most demihuman families in this city wouldn’t be able to afford that amount without going into debt.
All that to bail out two unarmed orphans who committed the crime of… what? Slighting an adult human officer in full magic armor? What a crock of shit…
“The guards know the price is too much for normal demihuman parents to pay up. It’s just their way of ensuring that the kids spend more time in jail… You know, more time for those sick fucks to let out their anger on those too weak to even consider fighting back.” Sigvor groans in disgust.
Shaula clutches her temples in weariness.