Title 1 — General Provisions

§ 1.01 — Purpose and construction

This Code shall be construed to:

1. give fair notice of prohibited conduct;
2. grade offenses in proportion to harm, risk, intent, and abuse of trust;
3. support consistent police, prosecutorial, judicial, and corrections roleplay;
4. avoid duplicative punishment for the same criminal act; and
5. permit discretion when a warning, citation, diversion, probation, or restitution better serves the community than confinement.

When text is ambiguous, the more specific section controls over a general section. A later-enacted section controls over an inconsistent earlier section.

§ 1.02 — RP sentencing scale

“Custody months” are roleplay units. By default, one custody month equals one real-time minute, but server policy may adopt another conversion without rewriting this Code. Listed penalties are standard maximums unless a section states otherwise.

Sentencing principles

• A court may impose less than the maximum, suspend part of a sentence, order probation, or approve diversion.
• Restitution, forfeiture, license action, and protective orders may be imposed in addition to custody and fines.
• Unless a judge orders otherwise, offenses arising from one uninterrupted act run concurrently; distinct acts, victims, criminal objectives, or episodes may run consecutively.
• The normal aggregate booking cap is 180 custody months. A judge may exceed the cap for a life felony, mass-casualty offense, prison escape, terrorism, or an offender sentenced after trial.
• A person may not be punished for both an offense and a lesser-included form of that same offense based on the same act.

§ 1.03 — Culpable mental states

If an offense does not state a mental state, knowingly is required unless the section clearly creates a strict-liability traffic or regulatory offense.

§ 1.04 — General definitions

• Bodily injury: Physical pain, illness, impairment, or a visible injury.
• Serious bodily injury: Injury creating a substantial risk of death, permanent disfigurement, prolonged impairment, loss of consciousness, or extended hospitalization.
• Deadly weapon: A firearm or any object used, intended, or threatened in a manner capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.
• Dangerous instrument: An object, vehicle, substance, or animal capable of causing serious injury under the circumstances of use.
• Dwelling: A structure, vehicle, vessel, or portion thereof used or intended for overnight lodging.
• Building: A structure or separately secured portion used for business, government, storage, assembly, or lodging.
• Enter or remain unlawfully: To enter or remain without license, privilege, consent, or legal authority.
• Property: Money, data, services, contraband, tangible items, real estate, vehicles, utilities, or anything of value.
• Possess: To exercise actual control, constructive control, or joint dominion over an item with knowledge of its presence.
• Public servant: An elected official, government employee, peace officer, firefighter, EMS worker, judge, prosecutor, public defender, corrections employee, or authorized contractor performing a public function.
• Peace officer: A sworn law-enforcement officer acting under color of state or local authority.
• Emergency worker: A firefighter, EMS worker, emergency dispatcher, rescue worker, hospital emergency employee, or peace officer engaged in emergency duties.
• Protected person: A child, elder, dependent adult, juror, witness, victim, public servant, healthcare worker, or emergency worker when targeted because of that status.
• Vehicle: A device by which a person or property may be transported on land, including trailers and off-road vehicles.
• Owner: A person with possession or a superior lawful interest in property.
• Pattern of conduct: Two or more related acts evidencing a common purpose or course of conduct.
• Value: Fair market value at the time and place of the offense, or replacement cost if market value cannot reasonably be determined.

§ 1.05 — Parties to offenses

A person is criminally liable for an offense committed by another when, with the intent to promote or assist the offense, the person solicits, commands, encourages, aids, agrees to aid, or attempts to aid its commission. Mere presence, knowledge, relationship, or flight is insufficient without purposeful assistance.

§ 1.06 — Inchoate and related liability

Renunciation is an affirmative defense to attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation only when it is voluntary, complete, and the actor prevents the offense or makes a substantial good-faith effort to do so.

§ 1.07 — Justification and defenses

• Self-defense: Proportionate force reasonably believed immediately necessary against unlawful force. Deadly force requires a reasonable belief of imminent death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping, sexual assault, or a violent forcible felony.
• Defense of others: Force that would be justified if used in defense of the threatened person.
• Defense of property: Nondeadly force reasonably necessary to stop unlawful interference. Deadly force may not be used solely to protect property.
• Necessity: Conduct necessary to avoid an imminent greater harm not caused by the actor, when no adequate lawful alternative exists.
• Duress: Conduct compelled by an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury that a reasonable person could not resist. Duress is not a defense to intentional homicide.
• Entrapment: Law enforcement induced the offense through methods likely to cause a normally law-abiding person to offend; merely providing an opportunity is not entrapment.
• Mistake of fact: A reasonable factual mistake negates the required mental state.
• Intoxication: Voluntary intoxication is not a defense. Involuntary intoxication may be considered if it deprived the actor of the required mental state.
• Consent: Consent is ineffective when obtained by force, threat, fraud as to the essential nature of the act, incapacity, or abuse of official authority.

§ 1.08 — Charging and merger rules

1. Each injured person, threatened person, stolen vehicle, unlawfully possessed weapon, fraudulent instrument, or separately completed transaction may constitute a separate count.
2. Continuous possession of the same contraband is one count unless interrupted by recovery and reacquisition.
3. Theft and possession of the same stolen item merge when charged against the original thief.
4. Assaultive conduct causing one injury merges into the most serious supported assault grade, but distinct victims remain separate counts.
5. A weapon enhancement may not be added when use of that weapon is already an element that determines the offense grade.
6. Probable cause is required for every count; officers shall not add speculative offenses merely to increase custody time.