Rory had been trawling old newspapers of late, the ones that may have been read by his ancestors. Articles and stories told and discussed by people from all corners of the nation and Rory had perceived a consistent theme that ran strong throughout.

That theme is punishment. Obviously, we don’t use the conventional punishments passed out by civilians, but we do have a unique set of our own. It appears to me however, that they are largely underused and that one, the killing of a mobster, is the most frequent.

I theorize that there are numerous factors that contribute to this, and I would very much like to hear your opinions and stances of the matter. First though, allow me to elaborate.

In the times of old, rank was a very important concept. Respect had to be earned, and credentials proven. Today however, this seems less important, ranks that previously held great prestige now mean little to the majority of people. In honesty though, this has changed  a great deal since my blood last graced these shores. It certainly seems that much of the current regime, regards rank more sincerely and expects more of their associates before becoming bona fide members of the family.

So to bring me to the first port of call, so to speak.. this to me demonstrates why demotion is now rarely used and largely ineffective. I remember when demotion was a serious threat, rank meant something to people and they were disappointed and shamed to lose it. It causes me great sadness that people now blatantly disregard the importance of rank and all that goes with it. Albeit, not as much as they used to.

Punishment of the purse also seems to be largely ineffective unless the charges levied are truly enormous. Money is much easier to come by now and we are certainly a more affluent bunch. Fining is also, to my mind, only applicable for discrepancies where financial loss or hardship has been caused, such as the loss of contracts agreed between the gods and ourselves. With such a limited scope of appliance, it is largely irrelevant in the punishment of those who step out of line.

The final, and most common form of punishment, is death. This thing of ours is a messy business. There is no denying that. It would seem that death is the only punishment which really deters people from stepping out of line (the majority of the time. There will always be some with such disregard for their lives.) This I find frustrating because whilst it is the most severe punishment that can be handed down, in my opinion it is over used and can be carried out whimsically for relatively minor problems which really, in all honesty, detracts from our society.

So, ladies and gentlemen of our fair streets, I ask you, have our societies’ standards truly slipped so far? And are these punishments still truly effective, or do we need to move in another direction perhaps?

Rory lights up a cigarette, taking a drag and allowing his words to take hold, before exhaling.

What do you think? 

Sitting at her desk, Brielle takes a look out the window and see Rory walking down the street with his trusty ole soapbox under his arm. Knowing that he is about to make one of his famous speeches, she drops what she is doing grabs her coat and heads out the door. Luckily for her Rory decided to set his box up just on the corner of Main Street, it was only mere steps from her office. She got a front row spot, stood there with her arms folded and listened to Rory speak. When he was done she decided to chime in.

"Now I wasn't around in the olden times, but from what I have heard that ranks back then meant so much more in general. Just getting made was a huge ordeal. This being said though, times have changed getting your made button is a whole hell of a lot easier. Is it right? No I don't think so but it is the way it is. All that matters in this world is how many units you can carry and how big your gun is. Rank is just a mere informality in most instances. Playing off of that notion demotions are just a slap on the wrist, yeah you may go back a couple units but will that deter people from acting a fool?"

Brielle takes a deep breathe and continues

"Money like you said is so ample. People have stock pile of credits and can trade those in for quick cash when needed so yeah fining someone is absolutely pointless. Unless it is for some ridiculous amount, then things could get interesting."

"This is the topic I really wanted to express about though, the ( Death Penalty ). Think about it, what is the main cause for someone getting in trouble around these parts? Killing someone they shouldn't have killed that is what the main reason people get in trouble. We have to remember this is the mafia life, it is an eye for an eye. You should know committing an act of violence like that will always result in your death. People need to think before they act is what it really comes down to. I for one am all for the death penalty if that is what you would like to call it."

Brielle gives Rory a nod and sits back waiting for others to voice their options

You bring up a nice topic here RoryRourke...what of punishment. In our way of life there are certain things where leaders get involved and they will figure out a punishment for a young lad if he/she has done something wrong. Now mistakes range from all spectrums, you could have very well mugged a upper in the olden days and you would have to pay up and take a demotion. That is a little more than a slap on the wrist for 10 seconds worth of giggling. Now a days, the definition of dis-respect and notions affiliated are a bit different. Today you can easily mug an upper and its considered a part of this thing of ours. Absolutely nothing wrong there...only if this was my great great grandfathers day and age, wars were fought for something of such type. The member would take a demotion, pay a fine...and two days later be found swimming with the rest of the family. Times have changed though...longevity and the abundance of Made Man have sort of devalued that a little bit. As Brielle was just saying, there was a age when a family really only had a handful of Made Men. So it mattered more to get up the rungs, there was no such thing as "minimum time"...it was a blessing to get that far up to begin with. Again times have changed, and perhaps for the better. 

Look around the economy of our criminal world its higher than its ever been if you compare it to the old days, a big part of that is abundance of the ranked men in this thing of ours. Is it possible some of these buttons were just thrown around, possibly! But that doesn't undercut the fact that once someone is a button men, they have a huge upside in terms of making financial advances. Organized Crimes alone let people rack in more than a trip or two around the country would yield. Its a different world no doubt! So back to punishments....I got a little side tracked!

In todays day and age do we see demotions? Yes! Its usually coupled with your CL taking away a gun and even a partial payment to right a wrong. Sometimes this works, but its so easy these days to rise back up again. In the old days if you were demoted, the rise back up was harder. And your button was held a bit longer because well...you had to pay for your sins. These days that usually doesn't happen much. 

There is another aspect too. I was talking about how disrespect was usually tied to demotions in the earlier days, now a days...disrespect has a very different meaning. These days when someone is punished its usually for the ultimate crime "Oh snap! FUCK!!! FUCK!!! I shot someone I wasn't suppose toooo!" And bang that guy usually pays the ultimate price. I think the punishment in our ranks has somewhat faded a little with part leniency and partially because maybe the mobsters were churning out are a little bit more smarter. I can't think of any other instance outside of maybe someone shooting a CA/HQ/BG to be demoted and making a monetary payment. Shoot a real mobster and your a dead man walking...I think its just because of that, we have seen the demise of the demotion. Just a little example before I am done, and I keep tying this to mugs because in the olden days thats where most demotions were enforced. In the olden days someone could have in their profile "Mug me and I shoot you". Today the person that would carry that quote...if he was to follow it, would be shot after. No strings attached irregardless of rank and such. Irregardless of dis-respect or not. In todays day and age dis-respect is tied to more someone's words than actions....and hence the demise of other punishments, outside of the real big one!  

We spoke a little in private on this matter and it's a really tough area to come up with decent alternatives without straying into the Gods' realm.

I'd really like to see demotion being able to mean something again. If it wasn't such a short time between getting off the boat and climbing up the ranks, maybe it demotion would be a viable option here. If it's going to take you say... 50 days to get back to a decent rank and by proxy, have a decent sized bag to carry more units of 'the good stuff' then demotion would become a MUCH more daunting prospect. Especially if the perpetrator was carrying a lot of protection. The sudden drop in earning abilities is going to effect how much hired help they can pay to protect them.

However, like I said... this is not a solution we can come to by ourselves, so I'm really struggling to think of another punishment other than death or financial compensation.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place with this one I fear.