The following are Abwehran interpretations upon specific issues in Law Enforcement.

The basic principle of Abwehran Law is the term “Innocence until Proven Guilty”. This Presumption of Innocence forces the accuser to prove the crime rather than the defendant drying to prove innocence. In essence, it places more burden upon the Law Enforcers than the actual accused. While this may allow a guilty individual to escape, it also reduces the chances of an innocent person being falsely convicted.

Of course, this presumes the investigation was done in a thorough and competent manner.

An age old argument in Abwehran Law has always been whether the primary goal should be punishing convicted criminal or rehabilitating criminals. Many historic nations preferred Retribution to the latter and thus normally went for the harshest of punishments. In the After Conflict Era, imprisonment was the preferred method and led to increased spending on ever increasing prison populations.

In the Abwehran Star Empire, Rehabilitation is preferred over Retribution. Capital Punishment is left for extreme military crimes (such as leaking classified intelligence to the enemy). Punishment itself is still used in the form of Discipline, the difference being that Discipline often involves a swift punishment as soon as the crime has been committed before a lesson can be taught. This is often used in Crime Rehabilitation Centers, if violence has broken out.

However, the majority of sentences are in the form of Rehabilitation. Minor infractions of the law are often followed by scheduled group counseling sessions and community service. Major infractions often lead the individual who commit them to Crime Rehabilitation Centers.

While often incarcerated in individual cells, privacy is respected in a Crime Rehabilitation Center. A criminal in a CRC goes through regular counseling sessions (either group or individual depending upon personality) with labor/work as well. Any work a criminal does is paid work with the funds being transferred to a Trust Fund. This Trust Fund remains sealed until the criminal can convince both Counselors and Guards that he has been rehabilitated. This often involves a battery of tests and a full interview with the convict. Once convinced, the CRC releases the rehabilitated individual and the Trust Fund is then released to their bank account.

An important debate that still rages on in Abwehran Law due to case law is the importance of witness testimony and forensic science. Several schools of practice believe witness testimony is more important to a case than forensic science due to the implicating fact that witnesses were normally there when the crime took place. However, opponents of witness testimony reveal the studies that witness memory was not completely reliable. These opponents cite several cases where witnesses had been confused and accused the wrong suspect or even didn't see anything at all and used their witness testimony as their claim to fame.

Of course, detractors of forensic science are also quick to point out the flaws of that method as well. Evidence found using forensic science was only as good as the knowledge and experience of the person applying the methods and earlier methods of forensic science were rarely based on anything close to “scientific principles”. Such methods have been refined over the many years to a science, but earlier usage in history has left a stain on the field that can't quite be removed.

There is a third school of thought that believes in the moderation of both methods to bring a complete case to bear against a suspect, but many law enforcement officials prefer either one method or another.

The definition of Cruel and Unusual Punishment has been up for debate in the Abwehran Star Empire since the rough draft of the Imperial Constitution of the Abwehran Star Empire. While many believe that even criminals should be treated like proper Abwehrans, Punishment (even when used for discipline) in itself should be unusual or it wouldn't be effective. Instead, the Abwehran Government has decided that the term “cruel and unusual punishment” would define practices that degrade an individual and cause lasting damage to an individual's body. However, this doesn't mean punishments involving pain are illegal. The Abwehran people have often found pain works when deterring an improper behavior, much like it does in survival situations.

Because of this, punishments such as flogging are used against certain misdemeanors. Of course, such methods of discipline are only done with proper counseling and medical approval. It is also done as quickly as possible so the “lesson” stays fresh in the accused mind.

The one flaw of this philosophy is that is rarely takes into account the mental state of the accused after the punishment. While counseling may aid in reducing psychological damage, it may not fully prevent such damage from occurring. This issue is still a major sticking point in modern Abwehran society.

Physical Interrogation, also known as torture, is an method of fact-finding that has been outlawed since the founding of the Abwehran Star Empire. While rumors of its use in the Nachrichtendienst are still prevalent, torture has been an extinct form of interrogation for centuries.

However, psychological distress is a “gray area” in this philosophy. Much like the psychological damage of punishment often being ignored, the same is done in the realm of interrogation. This is mostly due to the fact it has the highest success rate when compared to torture, which had a success rate so low that the cons outweighed the pros.