Justice... why?

[Mikey]

In TNG: "Justice," it's mentioned at the beginning that the away team is going planetside to assess the planet for R&R for the crew - in essence, shore leave. Considering the size and diversity of the UFP in the TNG era, wouldn't that be reserved for a Federation world?

Further, the Edo were enough behind the level of the Federation to require Picard to explain what "orbit" means. Wouldn't the Prime Directive prevent an overt Starfleet presence in any event?

[stitch626]

That is what I consider one of the biggest flaws of this episode. They completely ignore the prime directive when it would be a fine time to follow it.

[Tyyr]

That always confused me. What were they doing contacting such an undeveloped race? Why didn't the Edo warn them about their laws when the punishment for breaking them is death?

[Captain Seafort]

Season 1 TNG. 'Nuff said.

[Mikey]

Why didn't the Edo warn them about their laws when the punishment for breaking them is death?

If they had no concept even of what planetary orbit was, it's pretty easy to think that they had no conception of anyone having different legal procedure.

[Graham Kennedy]

In fairness to the writers, I don't think they had decided how to handle the Prime Directive just yet. There are several cases of them interacting with primitive peoples, but just not deliberately interfering - Code of Honor, Justice, Angel One to name three (although it's not absolutely certain that Angel One and Code of Honor lacked spacecraft, they sure did seem to).

The thing I find most hideous about Justice is that Tasha Yar blithely states that she's reviewed the local laws at the start of the episode and it's all standard stuff. She was ordered to review their laws... and she never once thought to ask about their punishments for breaking them? Utter incompetence, yet nobody ever calls her on it.

And the other most hideous thing is, Picard goes on about Justice but NO legal system concerns itself with justice. Not the Edo one, and not the Federation one! We are repeatedly told, time and time again, that Federation visitors to other worlds abide by the laws of those worlds. Now suddenly it's revealed that there's a whopping great big "... but only if those laws are considered to be just by Federation standards" on the end of that?! Picard should have left Wesley to his fate.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Seems early on, it was more the TOS version of the Prime Directive than the later TNG version. To quote Kirk from 'The World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky',

No, the people of Yonada may be changed by the knowledge, but it's better than exterminating them.

[stitch626]

Picard should have left Wesley to his fate.

Seconded.

[Tyyr]

The thing I find most hideous about Justice is that Tasha Yar blithely states that she's reviewed the local laws at the start of the episode and it's all standard stuff. She was ordered to review their laws... and she never once thought to ask about their punishments for breaking them? Utter incompetence, yet nobody ever calls her on it.

Interesting, I hadn't caught that.

[Nickswitz]

Nor did I. That's the stupidest thing ever, reviewing a lawbook without looking at punishment.

Wait, since when is it "just the regular stuff" when it includes breaking the local flowering.

[Mikey]

Wait, since when is it "just the regular stuff" when it includes breaking the local flowering.

It's worse - apparently, "the regular stuff" means psychically divining some random, arbitrarily chosen 4x4 patch of space which changes daily.

[Tyyr]

It could fall under vandalism. He did smash the planter.

[Mikey]

It could fall under vandalism. He did smash the planter.

Right, but if he smashed any other planter, it wouldn't have been a crime.

[Tyyr]

No, it would have still been a crime. The trick to the Edo system is that they pick one... either spot or law, and that's the only thing the enforce that day/week/whatever. Break that law or any law in that spot, and they kill you for it. Do it anywhere else or another law and they don't do dick to you. So it would have been a crime, he just had the bad luck to break the wrong law on the wrong day/place, and was going to get executed for it otherwise it wouldn't have been punished.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

That is... pretty fucked up. Hmm... now the plot bunnies are biting...