No Prisons, No Death Penalty: How would they deal with serious crime?

[Rosemary Tea]

Another measures might be, he becomes suitable for military service. If the far away king has something going on somewhere else, maybe these are volunteered for military service. Thus, if they are bad apples, they are bad apples in a way that hurts the enemy and not the locals, and if they did not come back...kind of just fate I guess.

That could be one use of penal slaves. If they're physically fit enough for military service (which probably most of them would be) and soldiers are needed, soldiers they would be.

That has real world counterparts, too. Convicts have been allowed to work off their sentences by fighting in war, in some countries, or young men having a brush with the law might be offered charges dropped if they go into the military.

 

[pmmg]

So, you say you have this solved. What did you come up with?

 

[Rosemary Tea]

They use penal slavery for very serious crimes. I don't have every last little detail worked out, and I may still revise, but that's the premise I'm working with.

They would not use permanent marking such as branding, tattooing, or maiming if it's not intended to be a life sentence. But I am playing with the idea that they might be able to imprint a mark by magic, same in appearance as a brand or tattoo, and remove it by magic at the end of the sentence. It makes sense that they'd have a way to mark a slave as a slave, and that system would work best if it's impossible (or at least prohibitively difficult) for the slave to remove the marking before the end of their sentence. In extreme cases, the slavery sentence might be for life, in which case a permanent mark would fit, but that would probably not be most cases.

I'm also toying with the idea that it might be the religious establishment, more than the state, that handles slaves. Perhaps a penitent order of some kind. But that detail isn't solidified, and at the point I'm at, I don't need it to be.

 

[pmmg]

You began in the opening post that all of this was very rare to have occurred at all. Something must have happened to bring this to the front. Could it be something you don't really have to answer?

With tattooing, they could tattoo, and then cross it out later with another tattoo, like a red circle with a line through it as showing time served.

So far, I have no sticky wickets like that in my own story. Nailing down all the details can be like wresting with a pile of eels. There really is no one size fits all.

 

[Rosemary Tea]

The rare occurrence occurs, basically.

I have two parts to the story (or maybe two separate stories set in the same world, haven't decided yet) in which a serious crime occurs. One takes place in a village, and it's that once in a very blue moon sort of situation. The other happens in the city, which, as bigger cities do, sees more crime. Still not as much as modern metropolises, but it's less rare there than in the villages.

Knowing what's going to happen to the criminals, or what could happen, helps me plot it out. It's also something I can foreshadow. If penal slaves exist, it makes sense to work in a glimpse of one, or at least a mention, sometime before the question of a character getting sentenced arises. If there were marauding bands of outlaws, that would be something the characters would think about.

 

[pmmg]

Do you outline?

Knowing me, I would just write through to the end whether I had an answer for this or not, and fix it in the rewrite. While writing the rest, the answer my show itself? For me, the rough kind of become the outline after its done.

 

[Rosemary Tea]

Do you outline?

Very loosely.

Knowing me, I would just write through to the end whether I had an answer for this or not, and fix it in the rewrite. While writing the rest, the answer my show itself? For me, the rough kind of become the outline after its done.

I tend to take so many twists and turns when writing the rough that I find myself thinking, "Wait a minute, if I've put such-and-such in here, I need to set the stage for it back there, but I forgot to do that."

Sometimes the answers to the questions do show themselves for me. At least as often what I've written raises more questions.

 

[pmmg]

That is my biggest fear. Something I established way back in book 1 needs to be changed cause in book 3 I thought of how it really should be. I dont feel an outline could really help with that, cause scenes take on a life of their own and I like that. But once written in, its not always so easy to go back and change. I suppose that may be what a second edition is for

 

[Cambosaurus]

branding so every one knows they are a rapist- and shuns them no matter where they go. if people will not give you food, shelter etc... you wont last long. or removal of a hand etc. usually works.

Mabey serious crimes could give something more painful or obvious, I think something along the lines of Negan's iron from the walking dead could work.