Criminal justice system of the Federation of Ascenia

The criminal justice system of the Federation of Ascenia is the legal system responsible for administering criminal justice in the Federation. In contrast to neighboring regions, the Federation has a unified, tiered system for administering justice, handling appeals among convicted convicts, and possessing the capacity for incarceration of convicts. Unlike its neighbor, Paxona, none of the crimes punishable by the Federation carry a sentence of death, and the sentence of life imprisonment without parole is explicitly mentioned as the maximum statutory punishment that can be conferred to a defendant as the result of a conviction.

The rules for criminal procedure are laid out in the Federation Rules of Criminal Justice, and a complete list of all punishable offenses (along with a legal explanation of the justice system) may be found under the Criminal Code of the Federation of Ascenia.

The agency in charge of managing trial courts, criminal courts, criminal appeals, and making sure that the justice system is operating properly is the Department of the Citadel, who have their location in The Citadel. Crimes committed by members of the military are investigated and prosecuted under another system, the Tribunal for Military Justice.

Cases in which the Federation is a Plaintiff
Where the Federation is a Plaintiff, the case against the defendant is considered to be a federal prosecution. Federal crimes are listed in the Criminal Code of the Federation of Ascenia and comprise serious felonies. Federal prosecutors are known as Attorneys for the Citadel, and the Government under them is represented as The Government of the Citadel. All federal prosecutors represent the Federation for appeals, trials, and prosecutions and have jurisdiction over all crimes committed in Federation territory.

Federal prosecutors will almost always allow the province to try the defendant first if the conduct by the defendant did not violate provincial lines or involve inter-provincial travel. For serious crimes like spaceship hijacking, gross tax evasion, the murder of a government official or federal official, possessing a weapon of mass destruction, soliciting, possessing, or distributing child sexual abuse material, sentient species trafficking between provinces, racketeering, or piracy, they may attempt to try the defendant first, especially if the defendant's behavior violated provincial lines.

In both cases, although the double jeopardy rule applies, federal and province prosecutors can file charges against the defendant provided both trials are not open simultaneously. If that happens, the province will usually move to dismiss the charges while the Federation files them. It is rare, although plausible, to see the Federation dismiss charges for the province to move forward, although they are not barred from refiling the charges against the defendant if the province fails to secure a conviction (and conversely, the state may refile charges against the defendant if the Federation failed to secure a conviction). Only if the Federation has failed to convict and the province in question has failed to convict can the defendant no longer be tried again by either, as they are afforded the protection of the double jeopardy rule. The Federation may also attempt to try the defendant on all charges, even charges that would normally be prosecuted by the province. These "dual prosecutions" are exceedingly rare and time-consuming, so federal prosecutors will only attempt to try the defendant if their conduct is seriously depraved and violates provincial lines and the state has failed to convict the defendant.

Supreme Court of Justice
The Supreme Court of Justice is the final court and the highest appeal court in the Federation. It is located in The Citadel. The court's decision is final and cannot be contested by the Federation or the defendant. The members of the Supreme Court of Justice are known as viziers.
 * There is no chief vizier. In the Court, all of the viziers are of equal rank and seniority.
 * Although there may be upwards of forty viziers in the Supreme Court of Justice, there are only ever fifteen active viziers, and each vizier switches between judicial duty and court duty on an annual basis.
 * The number is always odd to ensure that a tie cannot form amongst the viziers. In the event that a vizier must recuse themselves from a case or the vizier is unable to fill their position due to death or incapacitation, the viziers on court duty will be briefly substituted in their place, so as to maintain the odd-number balance.
 * Viziers cannot refuse to vote or abstain on decisions.

While most prosecutions at the province-level end up discussed here through appeals only, all prosecutions where the Plaintiff is the Federation of Ascenia (i.e. Federation of Ascenia v. Defendant) start in the Supreme Court of Justice, as an exception to the rule. The defendant may still appeal their sentencing to the Court if they wish.