Capital Punishment in M41

[Laughingman]

How are non-military executions carried out in the imperium of man in 41st Millennium? The fluff speaks of Drawing and Quartering the treasonous, Burning the heretic and shooting the coward. But is unclear about how lesser capital sentences (premeditated murder, banditry, etc)  are administered to my knowledge. 

[Lord_Caerolion]

Most of those crimes come under local enforcement, so it's up to the individual planet. The actual Imperium only cares about the Lex Imperialis, which is enforced by the Adeptus Arbites, and only covers the major crimes like heresy/witchery/not paying the Tithe, etc. When it comes to local crimes, really depends.

 

EDIT: I mean, you mention "premeditated murder" as a crime, but as an example, on Necromunda the Imperial House actually legalizes certain amounts of inter-House gang warfare, allowing for what would otherwise be murder or even domestic terrorism to go unpunished (other than by retaliatory inter-House gang warfare, of course), and so long as the Tithes are met the Imperium doesn't care. Murder someone you're not allowed to, however, and the Enforcers are gonna hit you with so many concussion rounds and bolt shells that there won't be anything left to arrest.

On a Shrine World, outside of some weird sort ones dedicated to weird Death Cults, this sort of legalized murder would be utter insanity to them, and they might not even have the death penalty, seeing it as base Heresy to allow criminals to befoul the holy soil with their blood, so the worst crimes are punished with arcoflagellation only.

 

The Imperium is a very, very big place. Nothing ever has just the one answer.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Lord_Caerolion

[MegaVolt87]

It's the Imperium, guilty until proven guilty. All lined up on the wall, let the Emperor pass final judgment. The universe is a big place and you will not be missed.....

[Laughingman]

Most of those crimes come under local enforcement, so it's up to the individual planet. The actual Imperium only cares about the Lex Imperialis, which is enforced by the Adeptus Arbites, and only covers the major crimes like heresy/witchery/not paying the Tithe, etc. When it comes to local crimes, really depends.

 

EDIT: I mean, you mention "premeditated murder" as a crime, but as an example, on Necromunda the Imperial House actually legalizes certain amounts of inter-House gang warfare, allowing for what would otherwise be murder or even domestic terrorism to go unpunished (other than by retaliatory inter-House gang warfare, of course), and so long as the Tithes are met the Imperium doesn't care. Murder someone you're not allowed to, however, and the Enforcers are gonna hit you with so many concussion rounds and bolt shells that there won't be anything left to arrest.

On a Shrine World, outside of some weird sort ones dedicated to weird Death Cults, this sort of legalized murder would be utter insanity to them, and they might not even have the death penalty, seeing it as base Heresy to allow criminals to befoul the holy soil with their blood, so the worst crimes are punished with arcoflagellation only.

 

The Imperium is a very, very big place. Nothing ever has just the one answer.

 

 

 

Then the question would be how would probable  "lesser" interplanetary capital criminal sentences ( Examples: Non-military Mutiny, Piracy, Shipboard murder, Murder of an imperial official) be carried out. 

Edited December 11, 2019 by Laughingman

[Lord_Caerolion]

Again, pick a planet. Some planets might just execute everybody, and let the Emperor sort them out. Some mining planets might have the condemned work in the Sump/Spoil/Death-Zone/whatever else they call their most inhospitable area that still requires working. Others might send them to penal legions, or servitor-ize them if the Mechanicus are present enough. On Feral worlds, it could be being exiled from the tribe, or a trial-by-(insert locally cultural-important element/location/event here).

 

Even if it's just capital offenses/death penalty, again it depends. On Catachan, why waste bullets, etc, just send them outside the city alone. On the volcanic planet of Arblax they toss 'em in a volcano, on the mining planet Thoralg they send them into the rad-wastes (and both of which I just made up, because again, the Imperium is a big place). Cadia probably has firing-squads, others might have beheadings, or be fancy enough for guillotines.

Some of those crimes you mentioned might not even be capital crimes everywhere. Shipboard murder, for example. Murder of who? The Captain? Sure, you've done a Very Bad Thing, but on some ships you get shot, or incinerated, or rendered down into corpse-starch, or maybe just vented out into space. Murder of the cleaning-servitor Epsilon-Phi-11001110-Delta? Is that even murder? Not on some ships, that's just Destruction of Mechanicus Property, and you get made into Epsilon-Phi-11001110-Epsilon to replace them. On another, you've just stolen the judgement of the Omnissiah (that was the Omnissiah's punishment of them, after all, and you just "let them out early", so you get your Motive Force stolen from you, or maybe fed into the Blessed Generator, or again just vented out into space. Maybe they're really "boring", and just shoot you.

 

The question you're asking is incredibly vague. You're doing the equivalent of asking what the "non-English" word for something is. Sure, it's a set word, but a word where? The answer's going to be incredibly different if you're asking in Ethiopa than if you're asking in Japan.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Lord_Caerolion

[Excessus]

Why waste a perfectly good servitor-body? :)

[Lord_Caerolion]

Why waste a perfectly good servitor-body?

 

Because on Cadia you could have just been press-ganged into the worst-hit areas, or because they don't want to waste the tech so you just get sent out into the wider Death World, or because you're on a Feral/Feudal/Death World that lacks the tech to do so and they're not gonna ship every two-bit local murderer up to be turned into a servitor. 

[MARK0SIAN]

In Master of Mankind, a mechanicum worker who killed someone during a riot was turned into a servitor. In Priests of Mars a pressganged man who causes too much unrest is also turned into a servitor. It seems that’s probably standard practice to punish most of the crimes you mention if it’s a mechanicum world/populace.

[Slasher956]

If the crimes fall under the remite of the church (either a cardinal world or blashfamary) ... then the punishment is ... arcoflagalation or if really bad...being strapped in to Penitent Engine for the rest of your days!

 

The AdMech worlds tend to just turn you in to a servator... depending on the crime depends on how much they mind wipe you.... there was a bit in one of the BL books (sorry cant remember which one) where the servitor still has all his old memories but is trapped for 100's of years forced to carry out repatative mundane tasks

[Cpt.Danjou]

I think how and the reason for the punishment all depends on the culture of the planet/ship/regiment. As many things have capital punishment and in the Imperium everything has probably been considered a crime one way or another and a death sentence is not that uncommon. In a war zone, I would think  firing squads and the rope are the most common. A ship, naval and Mechanicum excluded, can be as varied as planets probably more, remember that these ships are large as small cities and they have their own cultures too. On a ship the old walk through an airlock trick is probably a common sentence, keelhaul not as common. On a ship with little resources the crime, which has very limited resources, of stealing a cracker might might give you the death sentence. 

On a paradise planet the way you might get punished, could be hunted by bored nobles for their amusement. But on a paradise planet depraved things, we might think thee things should be punished with death by slow torture, are considered as lawful as breathing. The punishment for Nobles and higher up might also be different from the plebs, as it has been throughout in history, if you a noble and would be turned into a servitor, you might become a servitor who just polish shoes instead of a hard labour servitor. An officer might get a firing squad while a common soldier gets the rope, while on a ship an officer might be get the eternal servitude, rigged directly to the ship, while a low level crewman just gets his throat slit from behind. Anything can happen in the Imperium.

[m0nolith]

How are non-military executions carried out in the imperium of man in 41st Millennium? The fluff speaks of Drawing and Quartering the treasonous, Burning the heretic and shooting the coward. But is unclear about how lesser capital sentences (premeditated murder, banditry, etc)  are administered to my knowledge. 

Exterminatus.

Always Exterminatus. 

[Lord_Caerolion]

Let’s put it another way. Think of a way to execute someone. Pretty much, no matter what you thought of, there’s at least one planet in the Imperium that uses that method. Look how varied the cultures on Earth are, now multiply that by however many tens of thousands of worlds the Imperium controls. Somewhere out there, there’s a planet where it’s normal.

[MARK0SIAN]

There’s also a lot of worlds that tithe manpower to things like the Guard or Navy. I imagine a lot of criminals (even murderers who didn’t kill anyone important) are used to fill that tithe.

[Wulf Vengis]

Prison worlds.

 

Penal Legions.

 

Middle ages levels of handling the "guilty" (hangings/beheadings/burnings/ dismemberments etc)

 

Lobotomy and transformation into servitors

 

Honestly if you can dream it up then there's probably reasonable precedence or at least an in universe example of it somewhere.

[MegaVolt87]

Penal Legions?

 

Such a barbaric practice you Imperials have. In the IW's, mischief and insubordination amongst the flesh will get you promoted to an exciting, fulfilling career as a combat engineer. 

[Lord_Caerolion]

But don't worry, you get to spend all day playing that wonderful game, Minesweeper!

[Laughingman]

For some reason I image shrine worlds doing execution by garrote vil (the old Spanish method) The religious overtones of Spanish garroting fit the aesthetic of a shrine world well...

[Lord_Caerolion]

Some shrine worlds, yes. Others might purify them with fire, or anything else that's related to their culture. Imperial planets aren't clones of each other. Krieg, Catachan, Fenris, and Cretacia are all Death Worlds, but they don't have a singular set of "Death World customs". The Shrine World of Notspain might fit that aesthetic, other Shrine Worlds like Notaztecsormayans might offer criminals up as sacrifices to the God-Emperor, and something as bloodless as garroting is blasphemy in their eyes.

I mean, the Imperium can't even agree on exactly what sort of god the God-Emperor is, the Imperium only cares that you worship Him as the only god. He could be a Sun God, a Death God, the Lord of Life, He on Terra, on an Ocean World he could be the Calmer of Seas, or countless other interpretations. 

 

You're not going to get a "they do X for Y crime" answer, because there is no such answer. Hell, there's not even such an answer just on Earth (quick, what's the Earth punishment for theft? No specific country or state, just the general answer). The only "one size fits all" answer in the Imperium is following the Lex Imperialis. To be blunt, any time you find yourself attributing a blanket behaviour to the Imperium, you're kinda doing it wrong.

[Raven1]

Well I'm assuming the Imperium only cares about enforcing the Imperial Law so Adeptus Arbites focus on that. Like in the US the FBI has a fairly strict focus but will get into state or local felonies based on the complexities, seriousness, or other factors that fall under their general jurisdiction.

 

Where as day to day crimes would be handed with increasing emphasis as you look at smaller jurisdictions. Much like the Necromunda Palanite Enforcer is law enforcement for that hove specifically.

 

All that being said, I think in general the Imperium could be considered very similar to North Korea where labor camps exists, you can "disappear", multiple generations of family can receive punishment for a single individual's crime, with a tad bit of feudal Europe mixed in, so loyalty is tantamount and shifts with the tide. The are probably a few good honest ones in the lot.

[Emicus]

Death? Death is the wast way out. Real crimes are punished by becoming a servitor, with your sense of self retained... Man the Geneva would weep.

[RolandTHTG]

In the Ciaphas Cain series, there's a throwaway line about a shipment of local prisoners being sent up for target practice. So even on one of the better worlds in the imperium, life is cheap, and you may just be shipped off to the local schola for trainee commissars to practice executions on.