Town Meeting

[john-adams-1776.livejournal.com]

John awoke at his usual early hour on the morning of the town meeting. He dressed with slightly more than usual care in his suit of clothes from home, broke his fast with a light meal, and headed to the Golden Horseshoe to ensure that things were the way he wanted.

The chairs and small tables were already perfectly arranged, but John dragged a podium he found backstage out to the front of the curtain. Then he bustled about in the kitchen area setting out drinks and whatever small snacks he could find back there.

Before long, interested citizens began filing in and he went up to the podium. There was no microphone because he'd never heard of such a thing, but John Adams never had difficulty making himself heard.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome. If you would please pick up any refreshments you'd care for and take your seats, we'll begin in just a few minutes."

Comments

[kzadbhat.livejournal.com]

"No, it hasn't, and it's a very good question," Carrot said, looking grateful for Rukia's civil tone. "Our thoughts were that we would only arrest a person who presented a clear threat to the well-being of others, such as a man who attacks another man with a sword with the intent to harm him. This wouldn't include sparring, and we wouldn't arrest someone without judging the situation. We have a place we think could hold such people, and the idea would be to bring the question of punishment before the people who live here, in the same way the question of having a police force has been brought before the people here. Where I come from at least, a policeman never decides the punishment of a criminal."

[kuchiki.livejournal.com]

Rukia was silent for nearly a minute, considering Carrot's words. They did make some sort of sense, but she still had questions and some things still bothered her. "How would you judge a situation? What place would hold people?" she asked. "And don't you think that bringing the fate of an individual before a lot of people is different than bringing the fate of an organization before them? For one thing, I think it could humiliate both the perpetrator and victim of the crime to have their business aired in front of everyone, and for another, people are biased creatures who don't always act fair. Isn't it possible that, if someone well-liked demands an unreasonable punishment, others could back them up?"

[kzadbhat.livejournal.com]

"I think you bring up some good points," Carrot admitted. "My experience isn't in governing people, just police work. So the system of trying people I thought we might use is clearly not the best system. But I don't think it would be a bad idea to set up such a system before we have criminals who need to be tried rather than wait until afterwards."

[kuchiki.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," said Rukia, with a slight nod. "And thank you for answering my questions so graciously. It's comforting to know some thought has gone into this process, at least." She smiled.