Bluespace plants and the Space Law

[Gatchapod]

TL;DR: Make bluespace plants restricted weapons in the Space Law.

So, I have noticed that a fair share of people seem to not really know how to handle dealing with bluespace bananas and, especially, bluespace tomatoes, Space Law-wise.

Is it assault or something along those lines? There's no bodily harm, unless the plant successfully throws someone into an environmental hazard.
Is it kidnapping? It is forceful relocation and the victim might be unable to leave.
Is it creating a workplace hazard or even sabotage? Throwing around bluespace plants is pretty malicious and endangers the crew.

All can work depending on the circumstances, but it requires a solid grasp of the Space Law so you can prove you point. Even old timers sometimes aren't sure what to do with such botanists, who can make pretty convincing arguments that no law was broken.

I believe there is an elegant solution to that: I suggest adding bluespace plants to the list of restricted weapons. This way, carrying one outside of hydroponics would lead to major crime charges, which additionally give security strong basis for requesting a demotion. I believe it would be in line with the relatively recent lethal chemicals addition to the list.

One last thing: I'm aware that, as per advanced rules, people abusing these plants should be ahelped. However, advanced rules are read a lot less than the Space Law and require admin intervention. This would make situation a lot more clear for people and act as a failsafe in case no admin can handle the situation at the moment.

[MattTheFicus]

As per SoP:

Botanists are not permitted to hand out (spatially) unstable Botanical Supplies to non-Hydroponics personnel; Just fire them if theyre being dumb.

As per Space Law:

You can argue that using a BS Banana on someone is Battery up to Assault. If there are any harmful chems in their fruit, it can also in theory fall under Possession of a Restricted Weapon (Any item carried by an unauthorized person, including chemicals, that can cause severe bodily harm.). Botanists are permitted some narcotics but are restricted by their SoP for toxins (Botanists are not permitted to harvest Amanitin or other such plant/fungi-derived poisons, unless specifically requested by the Head of Security and/or Captain.).

Personally I'd charge a Botanist with Workplace Hazard up to Assault depending on where/what/how the Bluespace plant was used and tack on Restricted Weapon if its got something harmful in it.

[Gatchapod]

See, here we can start to argue about the finer details of the Space Law.

Creating a workplace hazard very explicitly states that the crime applies to "negligent but not deliberately malicious" actions. Creating a workplace hazard maliciously should be considered a sabotage, then, no?
I agree that X00 line of crimes is the most suitable here, but we can still end up stuck in the processing for a while, arguing semantics.

Non-antags should really think twice before committing major crimes and making possession of these plants explicitly such a crime would likely be in line with what I believe to be the spirit of the Space Law. Major crimes in many cases are already reserved for antags, such as assault of an officer, inciting a riot or sabotage, since they force security to switch focus to the perpetrator. When committed by non-antags, this falls under our self-antagging definition.

Due to that, I believe the suggested change wouldn't strongly affect antag botanists, who are already likely committing exceptional crimes, while helping security prevent griefing. While this is an administrative issue, as mentioned in the OP, security already is the first line of defense against some forms of griefing, like RDMing. I would probably consider it a simple QoL change so there are no doubts that this is a major crime (as proven above, the most appropriate charge right now is sabotage).

[BottomQuark]

I would say it depends on the context.

If botanists are leaving blue space banana peels in front of the botany i would call it workplace hazard. 

If they leave it in front of a window to space, so people slip on it and teleport into space. It's sabotage at best, and at worst manslaughter/murder if someone dies. Or just attempt murder if someone goes into space but comes back to the station before they die.

I can't remember exactly how blue space tomatos work. Do they teleport you if you get hit by one? If yes then throwing it at people that have stuff to do (f.e. engineer on their way to fix breach) i think would count as sabotage. As it's hindering their work and the hinderance is the point of the person throwing the tomato. If they throw it at random people that don't have anything to do like assistants then i would count it maybe as battery or workplace hazard.

Also remember that if you would charge them with workplace hazard for leaving it in front of the botany, you can always give them max time and get warden to parole them. If they don't clean it in reasonable time, you can charge them again and just throw them in for the max time. If they would not clean it again afterwards, then it's repeating offend AKA +10 minutes.

 

I would actually like repeat offend to work on the 2nd time you commit same crime honestly and not third, but that's a talk for another time.

 

[Warriorstar]

I have no problem charging people with grand trespass if they're deliberately using bluespace produce to get to the bridge.

Edited March 31, 2022 by Warriorstar

[PeakPerformance]

One thing to be considered, too, is that the bluespace plants are not actually the problem here, but their bluespace activity trait. Labelling them as weapon when they could very well be used and harvested and carried without that trait (or you could just put said trait into another plant) could lead to other disagreements and issues. 

I agree with Quark and Matt that what matters the most is the context within which they're used, as it can be pretty broad, and space law/sop covers most of it.

Edited April 6, 2022 by Peak