Questions tagged [crime]
For questions dealing with acts that violate the laws of a given legislation.
118
questions
21
votes
22answers
3k views
What magic system would empower peace? (Retaining free will) [closed]
Imagine you're an all powerful god and you want to reduce the likelihood for unsavory behavior like crime, war, and disaster capitalism.
Without taking away free will, or micro managing all actions - ...
9
votes
15answers
4k views
Why would a government sanction crime within a city?
Assume this city is relatively large by late medieval standards, around 200,000 people. The city is mainly a site for trade due to its geographically central position and being on a river. Also, ...
13
votes
16answers
4k views
How could criminals make getaways in a world where public transportation is most common?
In my world, trains are the most prevalent form of transportation. Immense subway systems are used to transport people, livestock, and other goods throughout the world. Street level, trams, bicycles, ...
17
votes
19answers
6k views
How would the punishment of murder change if people could just respawn?
In this world, since there has been writing, when someone dies unless they are pregnant, they kill themselves on purpose, or they die while asleep, they will respawn where they last slept, just like ...
18
votes
12answers
5k views
How could publicly accessible information proving that a public figure is corrupt go undetected for at least a year?
How could publicly accessible information proving that a public figure is corrupt go undetected for at least a year?
Assume that the public figure is a moderately noteworthy politician (equivalent to ...
29
votes
22answers
8k views
How would criminals be punished in a world where everyone can teleport?
Everyone in this world from the age of 5 can teleport to anywhere they have been before even if they forgot how to go there. This started about 4,000 B.C.E where a bright green star landed on earth ...
52
votes
13answers
10k views
What would an immortal-run American bank have to do to secretly maintain bank accounts for immortal customers?
A common concern with immortal fictional characters like vampires and the like is the frequency with which they'd have to change their identities and move around in order to avoid people noticing how ...
6
votes
7answers
373 views
Post zombie outbreak world. People who die turn into zombies. Can the government detect murders from natural death + transformation?
The zombie outbreak is contained and people survived in fortified cities and on islands and so on.
Humans who die in any way that does not destroy the brain will turn into zombies.
Rules of that is ...
9
votes
6answers
424 views
How can I have a corrupt meritocratic government without it being perceived as such?
I like to play with superlatives. I want a government that pretends to be rightly-guided by the most sacred morals and ideals, but in reality is filled with fat cats who only care for themselves. ...
5
votes
3answers
203 views
What circumstances would lead art and artisan works to be considered 'worthless' or detrimental in society?
Context: I'm looking for justification of the above in my story so I can have clandestine artists.
But I'm having a little dificulty finding a situation in which art becomes to inherenty detrimental ...
2
votes
1answer
138 views
How would this prediction/assassination market fail?
A large, multinational cooperation wants to enable it's executives to get more creative in pursuing the companies goals. So an internal prediction market is established:
starting at lower management, ...
2
votes
4answers
1k views
How Much Gold to Pay Off Death Sentence? [closed]
So, you've got a fantasy kingdom that has had the better part of its treasury stolen by a dragon. They tracked the dragon back to its lair and trapped it permanently inside... but the dragon refuses ...
1
vote
3answers
148 views
Keeping a large-scale kidnapping operation a secret
The Villain in my story kidnaps people and transfers their souls into robot bodies, wiping their memories in the process.
This process has been going for a while, around thirty years. The current ...
19
votes
4answers
3k views
What would a corpse of a person who drowned in mercury look like?
I want to use a mercury based golem as a enemy in a murder mystery P&P story. The golem flows through cracks and under doors and envelops its victims until they are dead. Let's assume that the ...
8
votes
11answers
533 views
How would criminals escape detection in a society with ubiquitous surveillance?
Consider a heavily urbanized society with modern or near future technology with hybrid visual/infrared security cameras in all public areas and most stores, restaurants, office buildings, etc. These ...
15
votes
13answers
12k views
Is stealing the moon actually possible?
I'm writing a heist story set in the near future. The goal of my main protagonists is to actually steal the Moon. The budget of their escapade is not a variable; they will get this done however ...
4
votes
5answers
300 views
Why would a human bomb not be blown apart by rune magic?
I am a homicide detective on the magical police force. Runes are magical symbols fused into objects that imbue those items with magical power. These spells are stored in these runes for long term use ...
6
votes
3answers
274 views
How many gangs (criminal and non-criminal) can fit in a fictional crime-ridden New York City?
So, I'm writing a fictional story about gangs and the city I'm using as the setting is loosely based on New York. More specifically, the size of New York City, and the population. I checked on Google ...
3
votes
6answers
154 views
Early stages of a police / surveillance state, experiment leading to totaliarian government [closed]
A democratic government starts tightening its grip on the citizens by tiny steps, slowly but surely they advance towards a state that resembles China today.
In their first step, they start a ...
-5
votes
3answers
200 views
How would I kill every one on earth with only $1000 [closed]
Well, this is a wacky one. I only have $1000 dollars how would I get rid of everyone on the planet.
(this is all hypothetical)
1
vote
4answers
241 views
How to prevent theft in a world where dreams are shared?
Say we can influence our dreams to a certain extend and are able to participate involuntarily in somebody else dream, I am wondering is there a way to prevent leaking important information such as my ...
5
votes
4answers
176 views
How would a Disappearer make himself known as reliable?
A "Disappearer" sells the service of taking people and giving them new lives and identities. The Disappearer doesn't want to reveal identity to avoid being interrogated by the police or worse, ...
4
votes
4answers
220 views
How to uncover a suspicious person's hidden identity discreetly?
Its modern time 2010s to 2019. It's a normal world like ours. Takes place in a 1st world country like either USA or Korea. (Or if need be then a nameless civilized country)
Q.
You find a person ...
13
votes
19answers
6k views
How to prevent criminal gangs from making/buying guns?
TLDR: What can modern governments do to force criminal gangs to use melee weapons instead of guns.
So I am writing a novel where the main character is pushed out of society, and is forced to join a ...
9
votes
6answers
3k views
How to hide your own body? [closed]
It's the perfect locked-room mystery: the police find the victim murdered, but the room is locked from the inside. How did the killer escape? He didn't. After committing the murder, the killer ...
1
vote
1answer
114 views
What could be electable positions in the senate of organized crime? [closed]
So I am constructing a decisional body for the world of organized crime in my near future setting. I am basing this on many things, among them the ancient roman senate.
Only the most senior members ...
35
votes
12answers
8k views
Crime rates in a post-scarcity economy
A post-scarcity civilisation is one where the automatisation of production and a universal basic income system have made it impossible to suffer unwillingly from the lack of means to satisfy the ...
8
votes
16answers
3k views
How would the world control an invulnerable immortal mass murderer? [closed]
This question came to me after re-watching Jason movies and some Hulk movies. SCP-096 was a huge inspiration as well. Forgive me if this question is silly but I'm curious on how humanity would react ...
-5
votes
2answers
148 views
A Pyramid Scheme for Terrorism and Crime
There have been many pyramid schemes from commercial scams to chain letters.
A single terrorist wants to take over the world. He has a gun and threatens two people that he will kill their families if ...
asked Feb 27 '19 at 21:26
chasly - supports Monica
46.3k12 gold badges138 silver badges288 bronze badges
0
votes
1answer
101 views
What methods would a detective use to solve the murder...of a robot? [closed]
In what ways would it be different from solving a human murder case? And what circumstances would make killing robots a serious offense, even if they don't have rights and are still referred to as ...
-1
votes
2answers
277 views
Medieval travel times [closed]
I read another thread Travel time in Medieval times about this, but I'm still struggling to find a more definitive answer.
I have a town suffering from scarce food, due to previous years of crops not ...
-1
votes
3answers
123 views
(Mostly) Legal reason to seize an in-danger minor [closed]
I figure this question belongs here though it definitely has a legal counterpart to it. But since it's fiction and supernatural no less, I didn't think it would make sense to put it in a more legal-...
31
votes
18answers
17k views
How to fool a DNA test (for dummies)
It is the year 2000 and Joe has committed a crime in a small town in central Europe. When the police calls all adults living in the area to voluntarily provide a DNA sample, Joe knows he's in trouble. ...
0
votes
7answers
349 views
How deep can an ordinary human completely bury themselves armed only with a shovel?
In my society, honour is all important. A condemned criminal can recover his or her family's honour by burying themselves alive as a form of suicide.
My question is: How deep can an ordinary human be ...
asked Dec 26 '18 at 19:36
chasly - supports Monica
46.3k12 gold badges138 silver badges288 bronze badges
7
votes
12answers
2k views
How can I track the use of illegal magic?
Orgone is the measure of a person's connection with the cosmos. It is the conduit through which the power of the cosmos flows, focused through a sorcerer's will. Everyone is capable of performing ...
18
votes
7answers
4k views
How can one individual have two different biological signatures?
A detective is investigating a series of grisly murders in New York. The bodies of the victims seem to have been ripped apart by a inhumanly strong person. He has narrowed down the list of suspects to ...
3
votes
6answers
512 views
How can a renegade coven recruit its members without being discovered?
This is a follow-up question for this one:
How can I preserve the long term cooperation of a witch coven?
All people in this world are born with some degree of magical power, which increases through ...
3
votes
2answers
158 views
How can I prove that an individual was possessed during the act of committing a crime? [closed]
Devils are alive, and walk among us. This has been known to the human civilization ever since the gates to hell opened up, releasing the Devils upon our world. Although the gate was sealed and the ...
9
votes
4answers
691 views
Would it be possible to distil specific human emotions into an edible drug form?
I am writing a dystopian future where I hope to make it possible that specific emotions can be taken in the form of pills or drug form; or, combined pills taken to form more complex feelings. ...
7
votes
3answers
199 views
How can a coven of crones operate in anonymity?
There is a ritual that allows a mage to steal the soul of another person. This adds their mana to your own, making your magic more powerful. It also extends your lifespan and makes your physical form ...
42
votes
15answers
11k views
How can a criminal organization incentivize its employees to do better while keeping its ruthless image?
SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) is a nefarious organization run by me, a criminal mastermind named Ernesto Blofeld. It has its tentacles in many ...
2
votes
2answers
310 views
Who watches the watchmen?
Background
I have a highly industrialized country that is rapidly economically growing, all the while expanding its territory (think along the lines of the USA's territorial expansion between 1820 - ...
0
votes
2answers
354 views
How to detect a "love" potion?
A concoction has been invented that can influence a target to fall in love with an individual. This works in two parts. The user must drink one type of potion to emit certain hormones while the ...
3
votes
2answers
470 views
Everyone can heal very quickly. How does this impact forensics and criminal investigations?
So the central conceit of my story is that everyone has various superhuman powers in modern day America, and one of the powers that everyone has is a superhuman healing factor. Anything we'd classify ...
3
votes
11answers
293 views
Of replicators and postage stamps
It is my assumption that the development of Star-Trek style replicators would cause enormous problems for paper or other physical money/currency or any form of physical object of assigned value. In ...
2
votes
2answers
146 views
Do hostage situation procedures allow for a heist like this? [closed]
I'd like to split this into two questions, to a degree, although one is entirely dependent on the other. Let's say that a group of criminals are trying to rob a place (either a bank or a jewelry store)...
-2
votes
7answers
1k views
Can we build a world that is crime-free? [closed]
If we send a whole bunch of people that are highly educated and all have a well-guided moral compass to a distant world,
No one commits any crime
There is no any mention of any crime
After a few ...
7
votes
5answers
298 views
Keeping the Butchers together
A group of space criminals collectively known as the Butchers is gathering enough power to be considered as a serious threat. Although they are nowhere near as powerful as the two major space empires, ...
1
vote
0answers
146 views
In the US, how closely are people who die in a fire investigated? [closed]
Let's say a house burns down and there's a body in the house. The body is badly damaged but roughly matches the sole inhabitant of the house. How much effort is typically required to ensure the body ...
1
vote
2answers
398 views
What kind of poisons could be used in a hospital setting?
In my crime thriller, one of my characters is killed while recovering from a subdural hematoma in the hospital. What kind of poison could be injected into her IV that would cause her organs to shut ...