Paleocacherian Justice System

The Paleocacherian Justice system is responsible for the administration of criminal and civil law in Paleocacher. It has a variety of components including the civil and criminal courts, law enforcement, and prosecutions offices.

Law Enforcement in Paleocacher

Law enforcement in Paleocacher is divided into federal, regional, and local levels. Federal law enforcement under the Department of Justice includes the Federal Investigation Bureau and the Federal Prosecutions Service. The Justice Department is responsible for investigating and prosecuting federal level offenses. It is headed up by the nation's attorney general. The other branch of federal law enforcement is under the Secretary of Public Security, which is responsible for law enforcement on federal land, protecting the nation's borders, and overseeing domestic and international intelligence. Agencies under the DPS include the Garda Feidearálach, and the Coastal Patrol. The Garda Feidearálach is the national police force of Paleocacher. Its officers guard airports, federal installations, patrol highways, and perform border security and help regional police forces with counterterrorism and rural policing.

Enforcement of state laws is handled by state and county law enforcement. All administrative regions have a state police force or highway patrol to police rural areas and county sheriffs or constabularies for each county. Only a few of the nation's largest cities will have their own municipal police forces. The average ratio of police officer to citizenry is 1:350.

Criminal Proceedings in Paleocacher

When an individual commits a crime in Paleocacher the criminal justice process starts with the investigation. The appropriate agency will respond and investigate the crime depending on if its a violation of federal or state law. Once jurisdiction is established the crime is investigated. Once a suspect is identified either a grand jury indictment is handed down or if the situation is more immediate, an arrest warrant is issued. The accused is arraigned, bail is set and the pre-trial phase begins. If not already obtained an indictment is now processed by the grand jury and the court defendant will either plead guilty or not guilty. If the defendant pleads not guilty then they will receive a jury trial. Paleocacher's legal system is a mixture of inquisitorial and adversarial. Trials are very fast and are generally concluded less than six months after the defendant's arrest.

Legal Rights of Defendants

Criminal Defendant's have a wide variety of legal protections afforded to them by the Paleocacherian constitution:

• Right to a trial by a jury.
• Right to avoid self-incrimination.
• Right to legal counsel.
• Right to a fair trial.
• Right to avoid Double Jeopardy (limited).

In Paleocacher, double jeopardy rules are more lenient than in other nations. Defendants may be tried twice for the same crime if one of several qualifications are met:

• The jury was found to be tampered with or bribed.
• The prosecutor may file an appeal to have the case re-tried. This appeal requires the prosecutor provide the state supreme court with a compelling reason to do so.
• The defendant can be tried on charges relevant to the crime alleged.

Paleocacherian Court Levels

State court levels:

1. County court or local trial court: This is where most criminal proceedings take place including arraignments, pre-trial hearings, and criminal and civil trials.
2. State Appeals Court: First level of appellate court.
3. State Supreme Court: The second level of appellate court. High-profile or otherwise legally significant trials such as those for public corruption, significant corporate frauds, and high felonies are tried here as well. They also decide on issues of constitutionality at the state level.

Federal Court levels:

1. Sector Courts: These courts handle federal level criminal and civil cases as well as the arraignments and other related hearings.
2. Regional Courts: These courts handle federal appeals and some constitutional issues.
3. Supreme Court of Paleocacher: This court will handle cases where constitutional issues are decided as well as appeals for high level federal felonies.

Reform in the Justice System

Following the events of the Meyer Conspiracy and the ratification of the 2020 Paleocacherian Constitution significant reform took place in the justice system.

• The rights of criminal defendants were expanded to include protections against excessively cruel and unusual punishments.
• Mentally Ill defendants are automatically appointed a court provided psychiatrist.
• The list of crimes for which capital punishment was a possible sentence was reduced to certain instances of espionage, aggravated murder, some rape cases, and treason.
• No crimes automatically carry a capital punishment sentence. Life imprisonment is now an option for all formerly exclusively capital crimes.
• All criminal defendants who choose to plead not guilty get an extra protection in the form of a preliminary hearing to determine if the prosecution meets the evidentiary standards to take a case to a jury.
• Juror selection is now more lenient and defense attorneys have much more leeway in their side of the proceedings.
• The Corrections Service has a panel that criminal defendants and attorneys may appeal to to get the criminal defendant remanded to a more humane lower security prison.
• The Prisons Service has a greater emphasis on rehabilitation and three new minimum security facilities have been opened.
• An independent citizen's advisory panel will monitor correctional facilities and penitentiaries to advocate for the rights of inmates and monitor treatment.
• All capital cases are automatically granted two appeals instead of the previous number of one.
• The Supreme Court of Paleocacher will no longer run criminal trials for federal crimes and will be an exclusively appeals and constitutional issues based court.
• Restrictions on appeals for sentence commutations and pardons to state governor's and the office of the president will be lessened. Advisory panels at the state and federal levels will review all such requests and treat them with equal merit.
• All sentences of life without the possibility of parole will be reviewed upon sentence by a separate judge from the judge that oversaw the trial to ensure the sentence was imposed justly.