User:Nicknack009/Justice Department (Judge Dredd)

In the universe of the Judge Dredd comics series, Justice Department forms the government, police force and judiciary of Mega-City One. Its members are Judges, empowered to enforce the law and carry out sentence on the spot. Justice Department is headed by a Chief Judge, often advised by a Council of Five, and includes a number of specialist divisions.

Judges
Judges, sometimes known as Street Judges, carry out many kinds of duties from accountancy to diplomacy, but are mostly involved in law enforcement. They are empowered to arrest, sentence, and in extreme circumstances execute criminals on the spot - although most "perps" are sentenced to terms of imprisonment in the Iso (isolation) Cubes. Judges ride Lawmaster motorcycles, equipped with artificial intelligence and onboard cannon. They carry Lawgiver sidearms which fire six kinds of bullet - standard execution, high explosive, heatseeker, ricochet, incendiary and armour piercing - as well as boot knives and daysticks. Judges are expected to devote their lives to the law and are forbidden from forming personal relationships. Most Judges live in the Sector House to which they are assigned, and use sleep machines to compress a full night's sleep into a few minutes. More experienced Judges have the status of Senior Judge. Senior Judges wear no distinguishing insignia, but have greater responsibility than the rank and file.

Academy of Law
Judges are the product of rigorous training and psychological conditioning in the Academy of Law. Some Judges are clones, including Judge Dredd, who is a clone of the first Chief Judge, Eustace Fargo. Others are recruited from the citizenry at the age of five, and subjected to fifteen years of training, although exceptional cadets can graduate after thirteen years. Only two in seven cadets graduate. On graduation, a cadet becomes a Rookie Judge and is assessed on the streets by a serving Judge.

Psi Division
Psi Division utilises Judges with psychic powers to fight crime, whether to read the minds of suspects or to combat supernatural menaces like the Dark Judges. Judge Cassandra Anderson is the most prominent Psi-Judge in the series, and stars in her own semi-regular series in 2000 AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine.

Special Judicial Squad
The Special Judicial Squad (SJS) is Justice Department's internal affairs department. It has a sinister image: SJS Judges wear uniforms adorned with skulls. Their methods to identify corrupt Judges include Random Physical Abuse tests, in which they attempt to break a Judge down to reveal any misdeeds. Corrupt Judges can be sentenced to twenty years' hard labour on Saturn's moon Titan, after surgical modification to enable the convict to survive Titan's atmosphere.

Wally Squad
The Wally Squad is the nickname of Justice Department's Undercover Division. Undercover Judges are chosen for their eccentricity and often go deep undercover, testing their commitment to the law, and some go rogue. Spin-off series involving Wally Squad Judges include Lenny Zero, The Simping Detective and Low Life.

Public Surveillance Unit
Housed in the Statue of Judgement, a gigantic statue of a Judge looming over the Statue of Liberty, the Public Surveillance Unit monitors all aspects of citizens' lives, gathering data which can be used to solve crimes and combat dissidents. Its former Chief, Judge Jura Edgar, used it to gather secret knowledge to give her power over other Judges. It was disbanded after the Statue of Judgement was destroyed in "Day of Chaos", but has since been reconstituted.

History
As revealed in "Origins", Justice Department was created by Eustace Fargo, special government prosecutor for street crime, between 2027 and 2031, to combat a rising tide of violent crime and to speed up the process of justice. Following the Atomic Wars of 2070 and the discovery that President Robert L. Booth had riged his election, the Judges invoked the "oldest law of them all" - the Declaration of Independence - to overthrow the Government of the United States and seize power. The Judicial model subsequently spread throughout the globe becoming the most common form of government on Earth by the 22nd century.