User:Nicknack009/sandbox/Background and setting of Judge Dredd

The comics series Judge Dredd is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which most of the population lives in overcrowded Mega-Cities governed and policed by Judges, who are empowered to arrest and sentence criminals on the spot. Judge Dredd is a judge of Mega-City One, located on the east coast of North America, where this system originated. Much of the land outside the Mega-Cities is irradiated desert populated by mutants.

History

 * Atomic Wars
 * Cursed Earth
 * Megacities in Judge Dredd
 * Mega-City One

The events that led to the rise of the Mega-Cities and the Judges have been alluded to in numerous stories, and were eventually set out in "Origins", a storyline by Dredd's creators John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra that ran in 2000 AD in 2006-7.

The Judge system was founded in 2031 in the then United States by Eustace Fargo, the government's special prosecutor for street crimes and a celebrated athlete, in response to widespread violent unrest and intimidation of juries that made due process of law impossible. Fargo's became the first Chief Judge of a new Justice Department which trained and empowered Judges, Fargo included, to fight crime on the streets and dispense instant justice, but forbade them personal relationships. Stability and the rule of law were restored, and the system was widely imitated around the world. In 2051, when Fargo fell short of his own exacting standards by having an affair with a female advisor, he resigned and attempted suicide. He was kept alive in suspended animation, and occasionally revived to advise his successors, but Justice Department told the public that he had been killed in the line of duty.

In 2068 the belligerent Robert L. Booth became President of the United States, and within two years had started a nuclear war. Justice Department received evidence that Booth had rigged the election and murdered an aide, Arnold Benedict, to cover it up. Chief Judge Clarence Goodman deposed Booth, invoking the Declaration of Independence, and Justice Department seized power after a brief civil war. Booth was sentenced to 100 years in suspended animation, but the war he had started left much of the earth's surface uninhabitable. What was left of the US reorganised into three independent Mega-Cities, Mega-City One on the east coast, Mega-City Two on the west coast, and Texas City in the south, each with its own Justice Department, separated by an irradiated desert known as The Cursed Earth.

Geography and population
The size and population of Mega-City one has been depicted inconsistently, and has been changed by events in the series. The setting of the series was originally said to be New York, but it was soon clarified that New York was only a part of Mega-City One, which covered most of the eastern seaboard of the United States. In early stories it extended from roughly southern Maine in the north, as far south as Florida, and as far west as Ohio and/or West Virginia: the Ohio River, polluted and concreted over and known as the "Big Smelly", runs under the city. The Mega-City was built over the old cities, creating the lawless Undercity, though the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty were moved to Mega-City One for tourism. The population, initially said to be 150 million, expanded to 800 million before the 1982 story "The Apocalypse War" saw the much of the city destroyed and its population reduced to 400 million. In 2011-12, the story "Day of Chaos" left the city in ruins, bankrupt, and with almost 90% of its population killed.

Mega-City One has a far greater population density than any city in the present-day world. Most citizens live in huge City Blocks, each a virtual town containing a hospital, gymnasium, school, shopping district, court and a "Citi-Def" (citizen's defence) militia unit. A citizen can live their whole lives without leaving their block. Due to the high unemployment rate, boredom is rife among citizens, and "Block Wars" between neighbouring blocks sometimes break out. Blocks are named after famous or historical figures, the names chosen often satirising current events. Some citizens live in mo-pads (mobile homes), perpetually on the move around the city's road network. Some mo-pads are quite luxurious, complete with swimming pools.

Justice Department

 * Judge (2000 AD)
 * Chief Judge of Mega-City One
 * Council of Five
 * Grand Hall of Justice
 * Academy of Law
 * Special Judicial Squad
 * Psi Division
 * Wally Squad
 * Public Surveillance Unit
 * Space Corps (comics)
 * Lawgiver (Judge Dredd)

In early strips, the Judges existed alongside a regular police force, were popular with the citizens, and the people enjoyed robots doing the work, with the "Grand Judge" saying they would not consent to work more than ten hours a week. Over time, the strip would have the Judges as a feared police-state force with sole power; prog 118 (written when unemployment was going up in Britain) established that citizens resented being unemployed and took up bizarre crazes to deal with the boredom, and this remained part of the strip from then on.

The Justice Department of Mega-City One is its government, police and judiciary in one. It is headed by a Chief Judge, advised by a Council of Five.

Propective Judges begin training as cadets in the Academy of Law at the age of five. Some cadets are clones, including Dredd who is a clone of Chief Judge Fargo, but others are ordinary children enrolled in the Academy by their parents. Training is arduous and lasts fifteen years, although exceptional cadets are occasionally permitted to graduate early. They then become Rookie Judges, and are assessed on the streets by a senior Judge. If the assessor is satisfied, they receive their "full eagle" and become Judges, empowered to dispense justice at their own discretion.

Judges ride Lawmaster motorbikes armed with bike cannons, wear body armour, and carry Lawgiver handguns which fire six types of bullet. Criminals are usually sentenced to time in the Iso-Cubes, although some are sentenced to death and executed on the spot, and many are killed resisting arrest.

Judges who commit crimes are sentenced to hard labour on Saturn's Moon, Titan, and have to be surgigally altered to survive in Titan's atmosphere.

Some Judges retire to administrative or teaching posts, but others choose to take the "Long Walk" into the Cursed Earth.

Divisions of Justice Department
 * Psi Division
 * Wally Squad
 * Tek Division
 * Med Division
 * Special Judicial Squad
 * Public Surveillance Unit
 * Space Corps

Politics

 * Mayor of Mega-City One

Democratic campaigns - city council - mayor

Other Mega-Cities

 * Mega-City Two
 * Brit-Cit
 * East Meg One
 * Diktatorat
 * Ciudad Barranquilla
 * Pan-Africa (comics)
 * Hondo City

America: Mega-City Two, Texas City, Las Vegas

The Sov Blok: East Meg One, East meg Two

South America: Ciudad Baranquilla

Europe: Brit-Cit, Murphyville etc.

Asia: Hondo City, Sino-Cities

Africa: Pan-Africa

Other

 * List of organizations in Judge Dredd