Illegal spells and police records. Options

[Edward]

Illegal spells and police records.

Scenario. I am a shadow runner, a spell slinger and poses a force 6 heal spell and a force 5 power bolt. For reasons unimportant I am captured and the only charges that can be levelled against me are position of illegal spells. I am duly sentenced to a term in jail and released. Now I am a convicted felon and I know a combat spell at an illegal force. Am I immediately re arrested because I still have illegal spells, am I given permits to have such spells free (possibly with a covenant that I may not use them without proper permits) or do they have some way to cut the spell out of my head.

Similar scenarios may arise for the travelling mage (sorry ser I know you’re a respected police officer in your country of origin but mind reading spell are illegal in this country) retired security personnel that only ever got licenses for there work. Compony mages with high force spells used in their work performed on extraterritorial ground within a nation that dose not allow such spells and want to spend a night on the town (unlikely to be noticed to be prosecuted but still a technical breach of the law).

Edward

[Kagetenshi]

They stimpatch you into Mundanity, of course ;)

That is a good question. Maybe record your astral signature and disperse it amongst all friendly law enforcement organizations?

~J

[Ol' Scratch]

Spells with a Force of 3 or greater have a Legality of (8-Force)P-T. Once you pay the fine and do the time if you're busted, your possession of the spell is definitely added to your records and you are effectively treated as if you have a license for the spell. If you're ever caught using that or any other spell (your signature is ever even remotely linked to the use of a crime), you'll likely be hauled off to jail again. Otherwise, you're treated as if you have a probationary license or whatever you want to call it.

Your best bet is just to get it licensed under a fake SIN to begin with.

[Moon-Hawk]

I think that would fall under, "You can't be tried twice for the same crime." You've broken the law by willfully learning an illegal spell, but I don't think there's anything they can do about it unless they catch you using it (at an illegal force) again.
I would imagine that that's an insanely difficult charge to get to stick, though. You can't get info out of them with a mind probe or anything, it's 5th amendment and inadmissable. There's no evidence that proves that the force is illegal except for the word of some forensic mage who assures the jury that this thing that they can't see is more of something that they vaguely understand than someone else who understands this better says that it should be. Yikes. I would think that it's much more common to get people on the way they use their spells and otherwise illegal acts that they commit using said spells than for actually knowing a spell. But it's still technically illegal.

[Lindt]

My question is other then physical/magical evidance of the spell being cast, or the raw forumla, how could they actually know if you knew a force 9 toxic wave? And would they REALLY book you for knowing a force 4 heal spell? Or godforbid a force 6 fasion spell?

[Kagetenshi]

Force 4 Heal spell would get you booked damn quick. Unlicensed medical practitioner. I don't see why so many people think that these spells would be ok to the authorities.

IIRC the only real reason to have a higher force Fashion spell is to change the appearance of armor, so that'd also get you booked.

I don't think there's a way of telling short of evidence or Mindprobe, though.

~J

[Vagabond]

I would think most crimes of those nature would be "conspiracy" charges as they catch you trying to buy or learn such spells. Or if they can forensically prove that you used such a spell. Just knowing the spell in and of itself is hard to proove, not to mention too Orwellian.

And I agree with the Deople Jeopardy arguement. You shouldn't be charged twice for knowing the same spell.

[Mercer]

I didn't think information received by Mind Probe spells were admissable in UCAS courts, as it violates the right against self-incrimination. Been awhile since I read it, though.

I think of the legality of spells to be used as "another nail in the coffin" when magic-using perps are charged. If you were caught using a Force 5 Powerbolt, they're going to charge you with Assault (or Murder), Posession Of Illegal Spells, and anything else they can think of, including double parking and wearing white after Labor Day.

"Disturbing the peace? They threw me through a @#$%^$ window! What's the charge for getting thrown out of a moving car? Jaywalking?"-- Axel Foley

[Kagetenshi]

[Cakeman]

[Kagetenshi]

As mentioned before, if it weren't possible having a magical forensics department would be next to useless. The fact that they exist implies that there is a way to communicate said information.

~J

[Mercer]

[Moon-Hawk]

[ES_Riddle]

It's simple…all forensic mages simply know a force 6 "share astral signature" spell :-P

Depending on the severity of the crime, getting stimpatched untill you burn out is probably a valid sentence. You don't just let someone with an assault shotgun installed in her cyberarm back out onto the street after she does her time for bank robbing or whatever. You take her cyber arm away, and probably don't even give her a replacement. A high force combat spell would fall into the same category, IMO.

As for high force heal spells, they are something that will get you arrested, just like trying to pass off your "prescription" for morphine that you wrote yourself. I would guess that it is pretty easy to get a high force heal permit, though. If you worked at any sort of job where there was a chance of serious harm (like construction worker or convenience store clerk) you could probably get a permit for a force 4 or 6 after going through a training course similar to CPR instruction.

[lorthazar]

But then comes in reasonable doubt becuase there is no way an independant agency can verify what the forensic mage says (s)he saw/felt/experienced. Bringing up this testimony would be a real gamble on the prosecutors part.

[Spookymonster]

[Moon-Hawk]

[Jason Farlander]

[Conskill]

I might have missed something, but I always thought the legality code was for owning (and buying, and selling) copies of spell formuli, not the actual knowledge of the spell.

[BitBasher]

Er, and they can just take an astral photo of it now. Astral cameras are cool!

[GrinderTheTroll]

[RangerJoe]

If they're Corporate LE, they can orchestrate an "escape" opporuntity, throw a few grunts at you, and watch as you fry them, before swooping down to recapture you. Nice way to test the capabilities of your detainees.

[Catsnightmare]

Astral Projection is one (and probably the easyest and most common) method of being able to ID astral signatures. A quick phone call to a (or several) forensic magician(s), give them a location and it's a matter of a few seconds to have an astral conference right at the crime scene with the investigating mage to see if anyone has seen this astral siganture before. Hell with this system in place, one could set up a reference network. When a magical crime is under investigation forensic magicians who specialize in cataloging astral signatures from the FBI, major law enforcement companies, etc all can astrally project and arrive on scene to asses and log the signature in a matter of seconds, and if needed correlate with the invastigating officers.

[Kagetenshi]

Eesh. *Watches the salaries on Lone Star mages skyrocket*

~J

[Catsnightmare]

Which is probably why there would be a specialist for this kind of thing. Cheaper to pay one or two specialists for astral sig duties than all the department mages.

Even the use of Watcher spirits is possible. Rather than going your self, send a watcher to record the sig and bring it back to you.