218
votes
Logical reason why my dystopian government exiles rebels instead of killing them?
Sun Tzu wrote: never corner the enemy. Always give them a chance to escape.
If you kill all the dissidents you catch, they'll fight to the death. They have nothing to lose by staying in a cave ...
- 38.8k
116
votes
Galactic Law Enforcement - Handcuff Alternatives
All right! You're going in the BAG.
http://northbaybulldogs.com/huge_gymbag_person/
One BAG fits all. You get to keep your head out if you are good and your head is the right shape. Think twice: ...
- 306k
116
votes
Accepted
Enforcing a speed limit in medieval times
No technology is needed at all:
From http://www.speedofanimals.com/animals/horse:
All horses move naturally with four basic gaits: the four-beat walk,
which averages 6.4 kilometres per hour (4.0 ...
- 28.9k
111
votes
Logical reason why my dystopian government exiles rebels instead of killing them?
It is the last remnant of the history that started the revolution.
Almost all history has been rewritten;
but the one thing everyone still remembers,
is that this all started because the Bad Old ...
- 2,188
111
votes
Why might the dystopian government make its policemen patrol in fours?
Crime watch/enforcement balance. Patrol size is always a balance between the ability to see the crime (more smaller patrols is better) and deal with likely crime (large patrol group is better). Size 4 ...
- 42.3k
83
votes
Accepted
Putting Ant-Man on house arrest
How do they keep normal people from jimmying the anklet with a screwdriver? By making it tamper-evident. Sure, it's possible to compromise the electronics, but you're going to have a lot of explaining ...
- 38.8k
82
votes
Accepted
Law enforcement in FTL civilization
Use real world examples?
Criminals could 'run away' to the Americas or wherever in the 1600s. In that case, how would the Spanish crown capture them? What about outlaws that fled to the territories ...
- 85.8k
78
votes
Practical reasons to have both a large police force and bounty hunting network?
Bounty hunters only get paid on results. If they don't succeed, they make nothing and cost the government nothing as where police get paid on success or failure.
Basically bounty hunters are police ...
- 47.8k
64
votes
Logical reason why my dystopian government exiles rebels instead of killing them?
Don't confuse a dystopian government with, for example, Nazi Germany. Nazi Germany was led by (IMO) a madman, but it wasn't broken.
Dystopian governments are broken. It's more than simply ruthless, ...
- 132k
61
votes
How can I get mutants to cooperate with a registration program?
Remember the story of Rudolph the Reindeer
That's not the name he's usually known by though is it? He has an extra descriptor, that being the nature of his being different from the others. The moral ...
- 118k
58
votes
Galactic Law Enforcement - Handcuff Alternatives
Here are a few alternatives from other fiction:
Halo (Minority Report)
In Minority Report, criminals could be fitted with a small device around the head that numbed the brain, stunning (or at least ...
- 18.8k
56
votes
Could 1970s police cars be usable in the modern era?
Yes. But...
Beware the anti knock additive in petrol.
Leaded gasoline was removed from most of the world between the 1970s and today. (It caused horrible health, developmental, and possibly even ...
- 44.4k
54
votes
Accepted
Logical reason why my dystopian government exiles rebels instead of killing them?
For the story you're telling, I might suggest the fascist government has weaponized the old
Well, if you hate the UFS so much, why don't you just leave?
argument.
The protagonists are given a ...
- 2,803
53
votes
Accepted
How to prevent invisible people from committing crimes?
Spencer Muise already mentioned that they could be invisible to our visible spectrum, but could be still visible as a source of heat or another kind of radiation (maybe the process of becoming ...
- 3,816
52
votes
Effective way to identify people in medieval fantasy setting
A brand.
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_branding
Brand marks have also been used as a punishment for convicted
criminals, combining physical punishment, as burns are very painful,
...
- 306k
52
votes
Putting Ant-Man on house arrest
Use an ankle monitor that also records Ant Man's pulse
If his pulse stops, then it sets off an alarm, indicating that he's either dead, or he has removed it (probably by shrinking).
In general, the ...
- 15.1k
51
votes
Accepted
How can I get mutants to cooperate with a registration program?
Benefits
In today's economy, all you need to do is providing free health care and free tuition for college/university. Some tax exemptions will go a long way towards that too. Also provide tax ...
- 142k
49
votes
Accepted
How to police a state with high amount of gun ownership where the police are not routinely armed?
Domestic Disturbance
Most police occurrences are not violent crimes, your cops would be trained to descalate situations, act as a mediator between the people, and know how to administer first aid.
...
- 6,047
49
votes
How can I get mutants to cooperate with a registration program?
Just register everyone.
Make being registered the prerequisite for participation in parts of society.
Escalate the amount of data collected and the parts of society for participation in which ...
- 644
47
votes
Proper use of a coma in a criminal sentence
Not useful, unless the sole goal is incapacitation
Punishment is said to have five objectives: deterrence, denunciation, incapacitation, retribution, and rehabilitation. Let's take these on, one by ...
- 40.4k
44
votes
How do human police (non-lethally) apprehend far larger, more dangerous races?
Basic gear should always be designed for what kind of situations you expect to encounter.
Perhaps completely baffling to Americans, some police forces in the world don't carry guns at all and will ...
- 45.7k
43
votes
Accepted
How are post apocalyptic police/paramilitary force funded?
Imagine a civilised world, where every individual pays protection money to the 'local' gang (local in this case meaning a single gang's territory can cover hundreds or even thousands of miles) on ...
- 8,123
41
votes
Why might the dystopian government make its policemen patrol in fours?
To ensure loyalty
A lone policeman can be subverted, bribed, or even carry out seditious activities without any witnesses. Any civilians who do catch them in the act can be compelled into silence, if ...
- 38.8k
41
votes
How do human police (non-lethally) apprehend far larger, more dangerous races?
Authority is more important than Force
Individual police offers already face many of the same concerns you are bringing up here. For example, it is not uncommon for a female officer of average ...
- 105k
40
votes
Prosecuting crime when the means used to commit it are far beyond current understanding
Imagine the trial in something roughly like a Western legal system:
Most jurisdictions require proof "beyond reasonable doubt" for a criminal conviction or words to a similar effect (it comes down to ...
- 120k
36
votes
Practical reasons to have both a large police force and bounty hunting network?
Unregulated Space(s)
Your police force has a heavy presence on-planet, or in dense population centres, but not outside of that - the void between colonies or the wilds of the sparser planets do not ...
- 15.5k
35
votes
Enforcing a speed limit in medieval times
With medieval roads? Don't even bother! Their axles will shatter if they try going too fast.
If you insist, put up speedbumps every hundred metres or so, or have twisted roads within your city limits....
- 12k
32
votes
Accepted
Citizenship removed and deported to desolate Island, viable alternative for prison?
Let's look at some case studies
Case Study #1: Alcatraz
During its 29 years of operation, the penitentiary claimed that no prisoner successfully escaped. A total of 36 prisoners made 14 escape ...
- 132k
30
votes
Why would a country execute criminals only at a certain time of the year?
The march of the prisoners is an awfully impressive sight and the more prisoners that are involved the more impressive it is. Everybody loves to thow tomatoes at the justifiably cancerous legions (or ...
- 132k
29
votes
Accepted
Effective way to identify people in medieval fantasy setting
Silver Dust
Exposure to silver dust/colloidal silver eventually turns your entire skin blue.
...permanently.
The condition is called Argyria.
Paul Karason turned blue after extensive use of ...
- 44k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible