The "heat generation" thread got me thinking about this:
Yes, but those are patriotic, conservative organized crime rings. Nobody cares about them as much as they care about the leftist terrorists that the LCS represents. When terrorists are concerned, all those pesky laws that hinder normal criminal investigations disappear.
There's currently not much to criminal investigations. For one, the police are way too trigger happy. But when one of your dudes is captured, there's a die roll of some kind, and then the Liberal either cracks or doesn't, and then in court, the strength of the case against you is another die roll. We should be able to see the other side of the Interrogation screen.
Here's a stab at it. Internally, there's a list of charges which the police are trying to nail you for, same as now. In each day of interrogation, a police detective attacks with Wisdom and Psychology. You get several options:
Confess - end the interrogation; you'll be charged with everything and the prosecution's case will be very strong. Anyone else on your roster who was present for those crimes will also be charged and you'll lose Juice for them. If your Heart < Wisdom, you'll do this automatically.
Lie - defend with Persuasion. If you win, a charge is removed from your record. If you win big, you convince them they've got the wrong guy and they release you. If you lose, you accidentally confess to a charge.
Remain Silent - defend with Heart. If you win, you gain a point of Heart and some Juice. If you lose, you lose a point of Heart.
Demand a Lawyer - if Police Behavior is at L or better, this gives you a lawyer. At C, you defend with Law skill and get the lawyer if you win (the cops will try to talk you out of it). At C+, you don't get a lawyer, you scumbag terrorist. Once you have a lawyer, the police have a time limit (depends on the lawyer's Law skill?) to move you to the courthouse. At that point, they proceed with the case they have, which is probably weak unless you've been ratted out.
Testify! - counterattack with Persuasion and Charisma. If this succeeds, your interrogator loses a point of Wisdom and you gain some Juice. If it fails, you have a chance to gain a point of Wisdom (you are talking to an arch-conservative). If your interrogator's Wisdom drops below his Heart, he'll release you and he might become enlightened! With Free Speech at C+, this is a minor crime in itself ("Sedition") but you can still try.
Escape! - you get a Security roll to get free from your restraints. After that, you're outside the cell in the police station. Martial Arts is your friend.
If the laws are conservative enough, they'll also torture you, in which case your Heart (and health) will get depleted per the current interrogation system.
One minor side benefit: as you get interrogated, you learn Psychology skill from having it used on you.
Thoughts? I might try to code this if work isn't too crazy this week.