Justice: The aftermath

[kythe]

In the episode "Justice" Wesley accidentally commits a capital offense, but Picard gets him off the hook by appealing to the Edo's "God", the interdimensional alien being who watches over the Edo people.

What happens next? Sure, Picard and crew move on to their next adventure, but I mean for the Edo. Their laws haven't been broken for a long time, and they've never seen anyone get away with a crime. Does this cause a change in their reasoning about crime, maybe start the next phase of their social evolution, or do they just move on like it never happened?

 

[Dream]

They probably started a ban all Federation members from the planet law.

 

[Timo]

Supposedly, the Zone system originally allowed a limited number of law enforcement personnel to deal with planetwide unrest and crime. The crime has gone away now - but as far as we can tell, no element of the system has been discontinued or diluted. The law enforcers still exist to pounce on any crime taking place in a Zone, and the punishment still is death. One miscreant getting away by using alien technology should not change any of that - the Edo would still live in mortal fear of taking a misstep.

The true implications would be religious: the Edo God was actively involved in allowing the aliens to escape. Or at least God first demonstrated its ability to prevent an escape, then chose not to use that ability. Would this be taken to mean that God, a mysterious entity that supposedly doesn't express its will clearly in its rare dealings with the Edo, takes a dim view on the Zone system? If so, the Edo would no doubt start at least experimenting with dismantling the system, and waiting to see how God reacts.

Or would this be taken to mean that the Law still applies for the Edo, but alien visitors from now on should be treated as immune to the Law? This could be implemented easily enough, considering how rare alien visitors apparently re. But would this cause discontent on an abstract level, with the Edo feeling they are inferior to space aliens?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mojochi]

There is the potential that the Edo people might lose respect for the laws of their god as it relates to the loss of respect for their god, who, as Timo pointed out, let law breakers get away

It certainly could have been enough to have disrupted their harmony

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I can't remember, does the Edo entity actually speak directly to them? Perhaps it told them why it let Wesley get away. And/or, forbade all visitors from ever coming there again.

 

[Mojochi]

I don't think it was ever shown to speak to them, but I figure it has passed on its decrees somehow

 

[kythe]

The Edo woman recognized "God" out Picard's window on the Enterprise earlier in the episode, and she said it had appeared before. It spoke aloud to Picard then, but everyone in the room heard it. I assumed the Edo woman was familiar with this also.

I believe the laws are ultimately set down and enforced by "God", so their God will also have to decide when (or if) they are ready for a more complex justice system.