After the investigation and prosecution of crime, does anyone have thought on using magic as part of the punishment/sanction/sentencing system?  I don't know if it was actually in any official lore about Hellgate Keep or the Fey'Ri, but I took note somewhere in the lore that toward the end of a Elf civil war, the Fey'Ri (Elf/Demon hybrids, kinda like Tieflings but more intentional on the Elves' part) were basically sentenced to imprisonment in Hellgate Keep and sort of magically confined there. 

Other innovations?  In the history of incarceration there are many stories of mis-steps with good intention. Solitary confinement, for example, was initially conceived as something that would be good for the soul.  Modern psychology argues, and research into it's use in the past, suggest on the contrary its quite damaging to the mind to the point that it's often challenged as cruel and unusual punishment when conditions of confinement are being litigated.  Modern theories of criminal justice debate whether the post-sentencing machines of the justice system are in place to punish (because that's what the people desire and also possibly a deterrent factor), to rehabilitate, and to repair (which in a lot of conversations today discusses this in terms of the victim, the perpetrator, and the community they live in).  Think there's lots of hooks where magic can jump in and explore the possibilities.

On an individual level, there's Geas and Mark of Justice.  Also Imprisonment, but that's overkill on most targets.

Of course, if the court system in question is based around punishment rather than reform, things can get nasty quickly.  That can get you everything from the use of illusion spells in various means of frightening a target without physically harming them to using Gate to sell them to an Ifreet as a slave.  Not to mention the various gruesome options for execution.

Quote from 6thLyranGuard >>

On an individual level, there's Geas and Mark of Justice.  Also Imprisonment, but that's overkill on most targets.

Of course, if the court system in question is based around punishment rather than reform, things can get nasty quickly.  That can get you everything from the use of illusion spells in various means of frightening a target without physically harming them to using Gate to sell them to an Ifreet as a slave.  Not to mention the various gruesome options for execution.

 The modern view is that of reform. Medieval society saw imprisonment as punishment. Your campaign so do what you will, for me I hadn't really thought of it. It's pretty thought provoking. I'd probably have differing countries have different methods.

Regarding execution, every method you can think of (and some you didn't) was used during the medieval period. Fascinating and gross.

If I'm running a campaign, I don't really do dungeons or jails so much. They are largely meant as temporary housing to keep suspects in a known place and secure so they don't leave until they face trial, usually within a week. There they are either not proven guilty (or they have to prove their innocence, depending on the setting) or they are given a punishment. Long-term incarceration isn't really a thing because of resource allocation and they won't waste resources on criminals unless there is something to be gained, like holding a person of importance for ransom/wealthy family forced to pay to have them released. Otherwise it's forced labor until they pay off a debt, pay off the debt if they can afford it, conscription and sent to the front lines, having fingers or something cut off because they're too sticky or flat out execution. 

I don't need to use the modern justice system for a fantasy world, and it adds some real stakes for the players if they end up on the wrong side of the law. 

Quote from dragonlord2488 >>

If I'm running a campaign, I don't really do dungeons or jails so much. They are largely meant as temporary housing to keep suspects in a known place and secure so they don't leave until they face trial, usually within a week. There they are either not proven guilty (or they have to prove their innocence, depending on the setting) or they are given a punishment. Long-term incarceration isn't really a thing because of resource allocation and they won't waste resources on criminals unless there is something to be gained, like holding a person of importance for ransom/wealthy family forced to pay to have them released. Otherwise it's forced labor until they pay off a debt, pay off the debt if they can afford it, conscription and sent to the front lines, having fingers or something cut off because they're too sticky or flat out execution. 

I don't need to use the modern justice system for a fantasy world, and it adds some real stakes for the players if they end up on the wrong side of the law. 

And "Magic's impact (or influence) on the justice system" in your world?

Quote from 6thLyranGuard >>

On an individual level, there's Geas and Mark of Justice.  Also Imprisonment, but that's overkill on most targets.

Of course, if the court system in question is based around punishment rather than reform, things can get nasty quickly.  That can get you everything from the use of illusion spells in various means of frightening a target without physically harming them to using Gate to sell them to an Ifreet as a slave.  Not to mention the various gruesome options for execution.

Yes, mass use of Imprisonment seems to be the fate of the Fey'Ri in the Realms according to some lore I've dug up.  Also Geas would be an interesting use of magical behavioral modification leading to Clockwork Orange type results.  I know some artifacts can subtly over time or radically in an instant (Tome of Vile Darkness / Sword of Zariel) change alignment and otherwise transform those exposed to it.  Unless you're talking about a regime that pretty much does nothing but use magical means to assert authority, I'd only see such artifacts or items being used at the "highest" levels of power in the society, but between Geas and these artifacts I see a scale of options where it's upon the law's authority to "change" the offender.

As opposed to "changing the heart" magic also allows to "know the heart" too, so you could have an authority that has something like an inquisition proclaiming the ability to magically maintain security and order through investigation and prosecuting "thought crime" or identifying "subversives."  Lots of ways that hook could run.

Lastly, we could always flip the table of this discussion and venture into regimes where magic itself is highly regulated and maybe even outright persecuted as part.

Quote from Wysperra >>

Quote from 6thLyranGuard >>

On an individual level, there's Geas and Mark of Justice.  Also Imprisonment, but that's overkill on most targets.

Of course, if the court system in question is based around punishment rather than reform, things can get nasty quickly.  That can get you everything from the use of illusion spells in various means of frightening a target without physically harming them to using Gate to sell them to an Ifreet as a slave.  Not to mention the various gruesome options for execution.

 The modern view is that of reform. Medieval society saw imprisonment as punishment. Your campaign so do what you will, for me I hadn't really thought of it. It's pretty thought provoking. I'd probably have differing countries have different methods.

Regarding execution, every method you can think of (and some you didn't) was used during the medieval period. Fascinating and gross.

Well at a policy level and a political level in the U.S. reform is discussed and a concept in circulation, but the practice and rhetoric also has a lot of space for the punishment (sit in on a sentencing hearing sometime and see how much discussion is actually paid to "how do we make the offender better" and how much of that may be predicated on good intentions but practices that have fallen into complacent tokenism.  Other wealthy democratic nations, and some not so well off places of the world do put more of a true effort into reform/rehabilitation. And there are plenty of places in the world where it is indeed a lot worse on a punishment level (see note on extraordinary renditions and the where's some people have wound up and the policy "why" they have wound up there).  It's interesting as has been pointed out how spells like Geas may be used to make an individual "better" but you could also see how some more freedom oriented societies would take issue with the practice.  

Magically facilitated exile and/or penal colonies (in the main game world, a parallel world much like the material plane, or depending on the power level of the states extrapljnar or even far realm colonies in service of the authority would be interesting).   

Using Geas is super heavy handed. For one, it is a high level spell for many campaigns (9th level casters don't grow on trees). For another, if the person does the thing they are not supposed to do, they will probably die. 

"Stop stealing pigs or die!" 

Quote from Wysperra >>

Using Geas is super heavy handed. For one, it is a high level spell for many campaigns (9th level casters don't grow on trees). For another, if the person does the thing they are not supposed to do, they will probably die. 

"Stop stealing pigs or die!" 

 

Exactly, hence the Clockwork Orange analogy.  I don't think Alex would die, but the criminal impulses he felt after the procedure led to feelings of revulsion and physically ill (that read a lot like psychic damage).  Of course a "true good" regime wouldn't employ it, but I could see somewhere between a "mad science" regime or regime that uses magic to compel anyone who could lead resistance to the authority using the argument that "this leader was disturbed, but we have cured them, all hail the good guys" sort of magically assisted dystopian justice.