ASC Department of Justice

__NOCATEGORYGALLERY__The ASC Department of Justice (ASDOJ or DoJ), otherwise known as the Justice Department, is a Department of the Castle of the Unitary Government of Cyberia. It is the main legislative and judiciary body of the country. It primarily handles the creation and abolishing of laws, the recording of changes to said laws, and the judicial punishment of lawbreakers, both military and civilian. Among these major tasks, it also manages many smaller tasks such as electoral system as well as the public news service dubbed the Civil Cognizance Commission.

History
The Justice Department formed in the late 2000's as the first branch off from the center that was the ASC Department of Defense. This happened as a result of the population finding it necessary to form a body of non-biased personnel to handle the judgment of offending individuals, as well as establish and protect the civil rights of all citizens.

A short period of time passed before the right to create and abolish laws was transferred from the Defense Department to the Justice Department, allowing it to become the true legislative branch of the new Cyberian government, on top of already being the judicial branch.

It was made a point for all legislation, constitutional or otherwise, administered by the Justice Department to be codified and recorded digitally, as opposed to written on a relatively short-lived storage medium such as paper. This precedent manifested in the form of a ledger; a permanent record of any and all additions, revisions, and deletions to the codified laws of Cyberia. This includes any attempted changes, such as a failed vote. Any additions, revisions or deletions to the laws of Cyberia were and still are to be voted upon by the High Castle, or sometimes passed onto the public in the form of a referendum and this referendum would be open to the citizens for a reasonable amount of time, which has come to be about a month. Calls for addition, revision, and/or deletion can be made known to the government by petition by the public. This is called a citizens' initiative.

The Permanent Ledger of Amendment and Legislation, as it is named, started with a base set of laws. This base was a complete carbon copy of the United States Code at the time. Immediately following the adoption of this base, a plethora of changes were made and recorded to it, suiting the population at the time. As the public opinion changed, so too did the law of Cyberia.

Office of the President of Justice
Being the highest authority in the Department of Justice itself, the office, or more specifically the Justice President, technically has the final say in all court decisions. This power isn't usually exercised, except in cases of appeals being requested after verdicts already made in court, after which the previous court proceeding is thoroughly reviewed by the Office of the President of Justice, and its verdict is either reversed or sustained.

Courts and Courts-Martial
The Justice Department encompasses all courts. This includes higher courts such as trial courts for civilians and courts-martial for government personnel, and lesser courts such as small claims and traffic courts. These courts exist for the purpose of settling disputes between two people, between people and companies, between companies and other companies, between people and the government, and between companies and the government. Common examples of these aspects in practice are lawsuits, government intervention in public affairs, and the sentencing of civilian and military criminals.

Major Divisions
Subordinate units under the authority of the Office of Justice are generally focused on the creation and enforcement of laws for civilians as well as servicemen.

Criminal Division
The Criminal Division of the Justice Department is charged with the development of criminal law and the procedures for punishment given for breaking said laws.

Electoral Commission
Most government elections are held by the Electoral Commission of the Justice Department. Most notable of these elections is the presidential election through which all castle department presidents are subjected. Laws and other such regulations for government elections are also developed by the Electoral Commission.

Security Forces
The Security Forces (SF) are the main police force within Cyberian Military Bases (CMBs). They respond to relatively minor crimes and investigate into the larger crimes that occur on the grounds of military bases. They are also the guardsmen for the bases' entrances and exits, as well as the patrolman for remote bases outside of city limits.

Civil Cognizance Commission
The Civil Cognizance Commission (CCC) is a public service broadcast available to the citizens of Cyberia. It is primarily a news broadcaster on television as well as the internet, that reports on the various goings-on within the Cyberian government and the country as a whole. The CCC is one of the largest (in the government) employer of civilians without military experience and/or service.

Civil Rights Division
The Civil Rights Division (CRD) is a division dedicated to protecting the natural rights that individuals are entitled to, regardless of differences such as ethnicity, disability, sex, orientation, criminal history, species and other potentially discriminatory topics. This includes assuring each individual is given their due process, regardless of being tried in civilian court or court-martial.

Consumer Protection Agency
While the Antitrust Division conducts measures for the fair competition between companies for the benefit of industries, the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) regulates companies' abilities and reach, for the benefit of consumers. Anything, good or bad, that affects consumers is a concern of the CPA. Data and other info is gathered and scrutinized through various different lenses, and at times there is action taken, such as investigations launched, fines issued or other such intervention.

Criminal Records Office and Warrant Service
The Department of Justice maintains a permanent record of each and every citizen's criminal history since birth or entrance into the country, in the criminal records office. If necessary, these criminal records are used in the issuance of warrants for arrest, search or execution of a person within the borders of the country; this is the job of the warrant service. These two agencies are very closely intertwined into one division dubbed the Criminal Records Office and Warrant Service (CROWS). Criminal records are easily accessible to those with the law enforcement clearance, such as personnel of Public Security, Riot Control or the Security Forces. Warrants specifically are sent out to Riot Control for their Warrant Officers to carry out.

Civilian Court and Court-Martial Wings
Judiciary courts in Cyberia are separated majorly between the Civilian Court Wing, and the Court-Martial Wing, with the authority to judge or adjudicate civilians and military personnel, respectively. The civilian courts are the larger and more spread out of the two, as they perform many smaller duties including resolving traffic disputes, familial disputes, small claims disputes, as well as being much more readily open to appeals than their court-martial counterpart. The courts-martial by contrast are more draconian in their approach to disputes and punishment of offending parties, especially due to the fact that most if not all small, relatively unimportant disputes are settled outside of the courts-martial, usually by those of higher rank than the quarrelers.

Antitrust Division
There is a noticeable emphasis on arguably aggressive antitrust legislation and government scrutiny in search of anti-competitive acts committed by companies of all kinds. This arguably anti-corporate/anti-corruption intimidation especially gained traction in the 21st century, when it became evident that the federal government of the United States were struggling to keep control over their own country due to anti-competitive, anti-consumer, and anti-government behavior; and subsequently were overthrown by these rebellious companies.

As a direct result of this, the Department of Justice formed the Antitrust Division. While there were antitrust laws to begin with in the government of Cyberia, the formation of a dedicated division launched a surge of anti-corporate sentiments in the form not only legislation, but extensive intelligence gathering and even threats of physical aggravated investigation through police agencies. These anti-corporate sentiments are still noticeably apparent today, however they have fairly eased into general anti-corruption and consumer protection goals.

Identification Bureau
From birth to death, civilians are required by law to be registered into the extensive identity database that is the DoJ's Identification Bureau (IB). The IB records personally identifiable information on the individual including residence, place of work, phone number, ID number, blood type, license plate number, physical appearance, date of birth; the list goes on. However what the IB is best known as, is the massive collection facial recognition data used by the various police agencies, investigative agencies, and intelligence gathering agencies to accurately and nearly instantly identify an individual just by looking at them. Facial recognition data is most usually stored for the long-term at the time of a civilian's application for their invaluable identification card/driver's license, with any subsequent need for picture-taking by government officials being used to update this identification data. Similarly, any time new and updated information is made available to the IB in any way, it will be used to update the database under the respective denizen's roster. It should be noted that the use of IB records in any manner other than official government business is extremely heavily punishable by law.