Chapter 257: Legal Reforms

After getting a good night's sleep, Berengar awoke the next day, and after having his morning tea, he immediately thrust himself into his work. For starters, he had begun to refine the legal system of the Duchy of Austria. Berengar was of the mindset that crime could not be tolerated, whether from the perspective of the law or within a community.

To Berengar, the level of crime that existed within a community was whatever the people within it were willing to tolerate. He planned to expand legal reforms and included propaganda to inspire communities to report crimes to their nearest official.

As such, he was in the process of designing comprehensive legal reforms. Though crime in itself was rare in Tyrol and especially within the city of Kufstein, it had begun to become widespread throughout much of Austria, and not just minor offenses either.

The devastation caused in the wake of the Bavarian Occupation resulted in thousands of peasants fleeing to the cities' sanctuary. In their desperation, these peasants turned to crime to survive, which in turn lead to the creations of Criminal Syndicates that had begun to pop up across the more impoverished regions of Austria.

Because of this, Berengar had started his legal reforms with strict countermeasures to Organized Crime. Any person convicted of a crime who was determined to be associated with a Criminal Syndicate recognized by the Department of Intelligence's Internal Service was to be sentenced to death by firing squad.

The Criminal Syndicates were still in their infancy. Thus they had yet to entrench themselves in the critical sectors of society. Berengar fully intended to route them out and destroy them from the roots to the stem. He refused to allow businesses and politics to tie themselves to criminal syndicates like in his previous life.

Thus even if someone committed a non-violent misdemeanor like fraud or theft, so long as they had ties to any known Criminal Syndicate, they would be sentenced to death. It was cruel, but Berengar had seen the rise of Narco States in his past life and desired to end such a possibility before it had a chance to become a reality.

Gangsters were the first among the people who would be sentenced to death under this new system; other heinous crimes such as Murder, Kidnapping, and Rape were also deemed worthy of such a punishment.

As for Child Molesters, Berengar had a special hell intentionally designed for them; they would be castrated and then sentenced to indentured servitude. They would engage in hard labor for the remainder of their miserable existence. If they dropped dead from over-exhaustion, Berengar did not care; that was just one less mouth to feed.

To make his stance clear, a strict federal age of consent was applied at the age of 16; any adult caught having sexual relations with a minor would be tried as a child molester, and if convicted, sentenced to the punishment mentioned above.

Every other violent crime had a sentence varying from 3 years to life in prison, depending on the severity of the crime. Berengar intended to construct labor camps to act as the prisons in his society.

The convicted criminals would pay off their debt to society with physical labor, usually in the form of dangerous jobs that provided significant risks to the civilian population or monumental projects like canals and road building.

There was a three-strike rule in place for this system when it came to felonies of all kinds. If convicted three times of a felony, they would be sentenced to death, just like the gangsters, murderers, kidnappers, and rapists.

In this court system, if one were sentenced to death, they would be allowed a single appeal to the courts. In doing so, the crime would be re-investigated, and if the criminal were found innocent of the crime, they would be released from their sentence.

However, if determined guilty after a single appeal, they would immediately be executed by firing squad. Berengar had seen taxpayers' money wasted on keeping criminals who were clearly guilty but awaiting their seventh appeal alive during his past life.

To him, a second chance at a trial was fair enough; after that, if they were still determined to be guilty, there was no point keeping such monsters alive; it was an absolute waste of resources. For Berengar, mismanagement of the finite resources on this Earth was a grave sin, and he had no desire to provide food and water to a criminal while it could be given to a starving child instead.

As for non-violent crime, it would entirely depend on the crime that had been committed. For example, if one were to be convicted of theft, they would lose the hand they used to steal the item. Others included imprisonment for a limited duration, assuming they survived the backbreaking work given to prisoners. They would either fear going back to such a hell or become a repeat offender, thus adding to their three strikes.

Anyone convicted of a felony was illegible to vote in the future. As such, they were also losing their say in how society was run, assuming they met the qualifications to be a member of the electorate in the first place.

Though the system was harsh, it also had its fair points. For example, it was based on the American principle of "Innocent until proven guilty," and the burden of proving guilt fell upon the prosecutor. The determination of guilt was left up to a jury of the suspect's peers.

Berengar also declared the need for public defenders and the need to pay these public defenders well so that it is considered a desirable position by talented lawyers. Like all of the other reforms Berengar had begun to make, a date as set for transition, which was twenty-five years, this date could be renewed if there were not enough Lawyers that existed to fulfill the needs of the criminal justice system.

The law enforcement system would be partially based on the United States of America from Berengar's previous life. Small towns and villages would fall under the jurisdiction of Sheriffs that were local to their community. There would also be State, and Federal agencies, including a dedicated department of border guards. Ensuring the migration of people into Austria was through a legal and safe manner.

As for cities and larger towns would have dedicated police departments comprised of volunteers; these had to be Austrian citizens who did not possess a criminal background. They were authorized to use lethal force in self-defense and in scenarios where a perpetrator was fleeing the scene of their crime.

Torturing criminals for a confession, or intelligence was outlawed, so long as they were Austrian citizens. While advanced interrogation methods were legal to be used on foreign agents, and criminals, the more barbaric practices were outlawed altogether.

To outfit these upstanding men of the law, Berengar would supply them with breastplates, gorgets, burgonets, and revolving flintlock pistols; these pistols were rifled for greater accuracy and fired a smaller caliber variant of the mine ball for more significant effect.

They also had a rifled flintlock cavalry carbine; this carbine could have a bayonet affixed if necessary. These officers would be trained in the skills needed to fulfill their duties to the best of their ability, including horseback riding.

Unlike the Grand Army of Austria that wore black and gold Landsknecht attire beneath their armor, these police officers wore blue and black Landsknecht attire beneath their blackened steel cuirasses. NCOs and Officers armor was trimmed with a mirror polish that slightly resembled silver.

The reason for this was twofold; firstly, it was to protect the officers from potentially violent criminals. More importantly, it was established so that it was easy to distinguish law enforcement from military officials.

Until now, Berengar's cities were garrisoned by military personnel who also acted as law enforcement agents. Because of this, there was a feeling of oppression in the air of many of the regions whose lords had previously rebelled against his rule. By establishing dedicated police forces from among the locals, he attempted to appease the masses by allowing them to be policed by their own people.

Berengar had worked the budget around to fund all of this, and due to his business that would soon start production, Berengar knew he could easily afford it. He had to stamp out the new wave of crime as quickly and efficiently as possible; until such law enforcement agencies could be drafted, the garrisons would have to fulfill their duties according to the new laws.

Berengar did not need prisons, but labor? One could never have too much of that as such dedicated prisons like those that existed in his past life would practically be nonexistent in his State. However, detention centers for those awaiting trial would be constructed shortly.

Compared to the medieval ideas of justice, this system was the fairest and most righteous treatment of suspects and criminals that anyone had ever imagined. Though many from Berengar's past life would label it as cruel and inhumane, it was a significant step forward in progress.

Besides, those people did not exist in this world. As for those from the future of this timeline hopefully, they would one day look back, and be intelligent enough to realize that everything Berengar did was to modernize the medieval German world. Sometimes harsh methods were necessary to do so.