How did Quark not become incarcerated?

[fenwyk79]

I've been re-watching DS9 from the beginning of the series through the end. Seeing that blu-rays of the series aren't forthcoming anytime soon (grumble grumble) I've returned to my DVD collection for watching it. I started a few weeks ago and I'm currently in the second season.

After watching the very good episode "Invasive Procedures" with the great John Glover as Verad in the episode I couldn't help but wonder: How the heck did Quark not get sent to prison? He's certainly gotten away with more than he's been caught with, but I can't see how he could go on from basically sabotaging the station, being a co-conspirator in leading to kidnapping, and attempted co-conspirator to homicide of a member of Starfleet without ending up behind bars. The logical inconsistency would be enough to make a Vulcan's ears prick up at this. And then several episodes later - Jadzia is perfectly fine with playing game along with Quark and others in his bar. Rather forgiving for this, aren't we?

If this has already been discussed ad infinitum please direct me to the discussions regarding it and forgive my digression here, this just really bugged me to no end in seeing this happen and then the rest of DS9 seeming to forget his actions here in being pretty much "okay" with him after the fact.

Anyway, I'm new here, and I look forward to participating. It's been awhile since I've been active in the Trek community (the old trekweb community back in the day when the very entertaining Scorched was still around).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Odo seems content to let Quark skate on a lot of charges just so Quark can help ferret out a lot of the more dangerous criminals. Quark, in the grand scheme of things, is small potatoes.

 

[Paradise City]

Quark himself was mislead. It's been awhile since I seen this episode mind you but Quark thought he was handing over some contraband or other? I think that was it. But I do know for certain that Quark isn't aware that a hostage situation is going to take place or that the symbiont was the target.

Should he have been chucked in jail? Is ignorance excuse? Yes and No. But of course, this is TV, and it wouldn't do to have a lead sent to prison, so, apparently, Quark's proactive help in resolving the crisis redeems him in time for the next episode.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I think Business As Usual covers the reason Quark was never sent to prison. In the first episode Sisko asked him to stay because despite his criminal tendencies his bar had value to the community. So as long as he didn't cross the line and was only interested in swindling people out of their money, he was tolerated. When he briefly went into the arms trade is when he would have lost that privilege. He was on good terms with most of the command staff and he (usually) didn't cross the line.

And of course after he basically saved the entire war that line only got thicker.

Quark was 'The devil you know'. If they had thrown Quark in prison, he probably would have been replaced with someone who didn't have Quark's limits.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

When he went into the arms trade... I don't know who was scarier, Sisko or Kira!

 

[Paradise City]

I don't think Quark is scared of Sisko. Nor Odo.

Kira, he's scared of.

 

[fenwyk79]

I don't think Quark is scared of Sisko. Nor Odo.

Kira, he's scared of.

Haha! Touche. That's because Kira would have no issues with assualting those lobes and breaking him in half. :-P

 

[tomalak301]

Wasn't there an episode in Season 3 where Quark was sent to prison?

 

[dahj]

If Quark went to prison Odo would have been bored to death.

Whose schemes would he foil then, Rom's?

 

[shapeshifter]

I think Sisko made a deal with Quark? - if he stuck around, became a reason for other inhabitants to stick around by his example, he'd not pay too close attention to what Quark may be involved in, so long as it was petty mischief.

 

[matthunter]

Let's not forget Garak only got six months in the cells for attempting to fire the Defiant's weapons at the new Founder homeworld, an act of attempted genocide.

With that in mind, it's entirely possible Quark had numerous one-four week spells in the cells between eps.

 

[Timo]

Let's also not forget that in TOS, the Federation does not believe in jail sentences any more. Rather, the standard treatment for all crimes from petty (Mudd) to genocidal (Garth) is gentle brainwashing, which of course typically requires the patient to be incarcerated for a while, but not for the punitive or removal-from-society purposes for which jails exist today.

On occasion, Quark might violate laws in systems that feature punishment. After all, Harry Mudd faced a death penalty once, too, for offending foreigners. It would be likely for Bajoran law to apply on most things taking place in the Bajoran system or on DS9, with a few exceptions of UFP law applying instead. OTOH, Bajoran law wouldn't apply to what Garak did, or what Kasidy Yates did. So both would get six months in an asylum, and sin no more.

Would Federation brainwashing even work on a Ferengi? We never learned it would be a human-only thing, and it was pretty effective - no criminal ever repeated an offense. OTOH, it was rather humane, as it didn't stop Mudd from being a rascal and dreaming up all sorts of all-new ways to break the law. So Quark could have gotten the treatment half a dozen times. Although finding the six-month slots might prove difficult.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[T'Girl]

Whenever Odo would bring charges against Quark, Quark would get a good lawyer and "Ferengi" the charges down to a minor offense.

A small fine and he would be back in his bar, business as usual.

 

[kkt]

Garak's crime was committed in the Gamma Quadrant on a Federation ship, so Federation law should apply. Cassidy is less clear - the station is Bajoran, but the Badlands are unclaimed, probably Federation because she was a Federation citizen and mostly in unclaimed space.

Quark getting away with Invasive Procedures is unlikely, but can be justified by his ignorance of what was actually planned. Of course, Quark knew better than to ask questions.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Let's also not forget that in TOS, the Federation does not believe in jail sentences any more. Rather, the standard treatment for all crimes from petty (Mudd) to genocidal (Garth) is gentle brainwashing, which of course typically requires the patient to be incarcerated for a while, but not for the punitive or removal-from-society purposes for which jails exist today.

Timo Saloniemi

I'm not sure I saw the episode you're referring to which suggests that the penalty for all crimes is reconditioning. But it's certainly not the case in the TNG/DS9 era. The 24th century shows clearly have jails, which just happen to be extremely comfortable jails. And even if reconditioning thing were still a thing in the Federation, Quark is subject to the Bajoran legal system in DS9, not the Federation legal system.

I think the reason Quark was never incarcerated over the course of DS9 is that they knew there was always going to be an underworld on the station, and they'd rather its gatekeeper be somebody who they know and who isn't a murder. They get rid of Quark he may be replaced by someone who doesn't have Quark's limits.

Garak is a bit harder to explain, I tend to think he got a slap on the wrist because he tried to do what the Federation secretly wanted to do.

 

[Paradise City]

I think the reason Quark was never incarcerated over the course of DS9 is that they knew there was always going to be an underworld on the station, and they'd rather its gatekeeper be somebody who they know and who isn't a murder. They get rid of Quark he may be replaced by someone who doesn't have Quark's limits.

Odo wouldn't have spared Quark for those reasons. Odo was very earnest about bringing Quark to justice.The writers wanted to keep the rivalry between the two going - and it worked but at the cost of some lost plausibility.

Yes, they do believe in prison in the Federation. See Ro Laren, Bashir Sr and Tom Paris for details.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

In Business As Usual it was clear that Sisko happily turned the other way on the small stuff because he wasn't doing anything that bad. Maybe Odo wouldn't think that way, but all he can do is bring charges, he can't decide punishment.

 

[Timo]

I'm not sure I saw the episode you're referring to which suggests that the penalty for all crimes is reconditioning.

Well, all of the TOS ones dealing with crime in what we'll eventually call Federation. "Mudd's Women" tells us death penalty is a Denebian thing, while Mudd's criminal record refers to therapy as the sentence to those minor crimes he was found guilty of. The serial murderer Lenore Karidian faces psychiatric treatment when caught, there being no mention of "punishment" of any sort; tellingly, no punishment was projected for her mass-murdering father at any point, either. "Dagger of the Mind" says the UFP now follows the lead of Dr. Adams in rehabilitating criminals through psychiatric treatment ("penal colony" and "rehab colony" are synonyms there), and "Whom Gods Destroy" shows them still following it (and using the very same equipment, including the neural neutralizer!).

But it's certainly not the case in the TNG/DS9 era. The 24th century shows clearly have jails, which just happen to be extremely comfortable jails.

It shows one Starfleet gaol, in which Eddington languishes in wartime. McCoy got similar treatment in ST3. But the latter at least wasn't related to a "sentence" or a "punishment" - it was merely a means of keeping McCoy in custody until it was figured out what to do with him (make him disappear might have been an option, for all the cloak-and-dagger feel of the scenes).

Then there's the New Zealand penal settlement where Tom Paris is working We learn of no sentence, only of periodic "outmeet reviews". Nothing conclusive there, but against genocide and smuggling both carrying the very same "sentence" in that era, the odds of this being for therapy rather than for freedom-deprivation torture or for keeping Tom from betraying Starfleet and the UFP again seem pretty good.

And even if reconditioning thing were still a thing in the Federation, Quark is subject to the Bajoran legal system in DS9, not the Federation legal system.

That's far from said. He ain't Bajoran, and the details of how the station is jointly run by Bajor and the UFP are unknown. And what law does Odo bow to, if any? Until "Emissary", he was enforcing his personal variant of Cardassian law. Said variant must have met with Bajoran approval for him to keep his job. But Sisko wouldn't put up with it unless it also met his UFP-minded approval.

Tellingly, this is from "A Man Alone":

Odo: "The law? Commander, laws change depending on who's making them. Cardassians one day, Federation the next."

Also,

Yes, they do believe in prison in the Federation. See Ro Laren, Bashir Sr and Tom Paris for details.

Ro Laren was in Starfleet custody specifically, not in prison - the same as with Eddington. And Starfleet still believes in going medieval, with death sentences, punitive assignments, demotions and whatnot. Paris we already discussed. That really leaves Richard Bashir as an odd outlier...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Paradise City]

What's the difference between Starfleet custody and being in prison? None necessarily.

Prisons do have a rehabilitation aspect to them. And we typically see this in Trek too.

And DS9 is under Bajoran law, Starfleet command. It's mentioned a number of times. Bajoran government gives the arms dealers a free pass for example.

 

[Timo]

And DS9 is under Bajoran law, Starfleet command. It's mentioned a number of times.

But Odo disagrees.

Bajoran government gives the arms dealers a free pass for example.

The government put political pressure on our heroes there to let the merchants conduct "lawful business", yes. But when things went south, Quark got charged according to that variant of law where Sisko was able to dictate the sentence, or as it turned out, the compensation.

In practice, law on DS9 is an extremely fluid thing. Odo more or less ignores it. Bajorans make noise at times, but never actually press charges under any law. Say, in "Dax", the Klaestron try to kidnap Dax, and Sisko "can't figure out why", because the UFP has a problem-free extradition treaty with Klaestron. He then figures out why, realizing it's politics and the villain Tandro fears Bajoran reaction. An "informal" extradition hearing with a Bajoran representative presiding ensues, even though we already learned Bajor does not have an extradition treaty at all.

The writers might not have agreed on whose law applies "in general" (if there is such a thing), but the casuistic evidence is for Bajoran law virtually never applying. It's just that Bajor is a force to be reckoned with, politically.

Timo Saloniemi