Armored Combat:Managing misconduct
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Managing misconduct
Concepts
- Many sports include a mechanism for removing and excluding a player (being sent-off) for misconduct for a period of time, or a game or two, such as football/soccer's red cards, or ejection from a gridiron football game or baseball, benching a player, etc.
- If there is unacceptable behavior, whether as a participant or a marshal, a warranted marshal can decide that you are no longer acceptable to be on the field, and exclude you from taking part for a period of time.
- The exclusion could be as simple as sitting out a round to regain your temper, rehydrate and have some food, or could be longer, such as exclusion from the rest of the competition, the remainder of the activity for a day, or the rest of a multi-day event.
- In addition to removing an unsafe combatant from the field at the time, long term sanctions are also available.
- As you go up through the chain of command, the marshallate has the ability to exclude you from a larger scope of activities.
- If you are in the chain of command, you can and should recuse yourself from the decision-making process any time you don’t feel comfortable making the decision, or are not sure you can make a decision fairly. If you are involved in the incident or have a conflict of interest, you should consider if you need to recuse yourself to maintain the integrity of the office. Conflicts of interest must be included in the incident reporting.
- Any marshal can resign from a position at any time, without dishonor or penalty. (As per the Rule of the Lists - "No one may be required to participate in martial activities.") You are not required to marshal if you are not comfortable with the responsibilities.
Sanctions
- Possible sanctions include but are not limited to:
- Excluding or limiting the ability of an individual to participate in an activity, tournament, or scenario,
- Revoking the authorization of an individual to fight with a particular weapon,
- Revoking the authorization of an individual to fight in a discipline or multiple disciplines,
- Revoke the ability of an individual to participate in activities that don't require authorization, such as training, pick-ups, or practices,
- Recommendation to the Crown to banish the individual from participation in events,
- Recommendation to the Board to banish the individual from the Society and its activities.
- A removal or exclusion from a martial activity at an event does not automatically revoke or suspend a person's authorization.
- Sanctions which revoke or limit the ability of a person to participate (e.g. removal or exclusion) for no longer than a single event (even if the event is a multi-day event or war) are not "administrative sanctions" as discussed in the Society Sanction Guide, and do not follow procedures for administrative sanctions.
- Sanctions which revoke or limit the ability of a person to participate for longer than one event are Administrative Sanctions, and must follow the processes in the Society Sanctions Procedures and Policies Manual.
- Procedures outlined in kingdom law or kingdom marshal policies shall be adhered to when sanctioning any person.
When there is an incident
General
- This section is meant to read from the perspective of your role in marshaling an activity. Read the part that applies to your role to understand what you need to do. You can read the other roles to get an understanding of what happens after you have done your part.
- Usually, participants are more than willing to correct any problems or breaches of the rules pointed out by a marshal. The desired solution is to get the problem fixed.
- You should enforce the rules regardless of the rank, title, or office of the participants.
- If you are in need of support, you can call on (in order of escalation)
- Any other marshals who are present (especially the marshal-in-charge).
- A regional, deputy, or principality Earl or Knight Marshal.
- The kingdom Earl Marshal
- The local Seneschal
- The principality or kingdom seneschal
- The Crown
- If the violation cannot be stopped, convince the marshal-in-charge and the local seneschal to end the event.
{In the unhappy event that you find it necessary, follow the escalations below to take appropriate action. If you are...
Anyone
- Anyone, whether adult or child, authorized or not, spectator or field marshal, or otherwise taking part in any martial activity who sees something unsafe, or potentially unsafe, can call "Hold!".
- Once the activity has paused, find the nearest marshal to explain what you saw / why you called hold.
- If you believe that there needs to be further action taken, you can make this recommendation to the marshal.
A warranted marshal
- If there is an issue before the activity:
- Point out the violation and ask the participant to correct it.
- In the case of missing or inadequate armor or equipment, do not allow the participant onto the field until it has been fixed.
- If there is an issue during an activity, you are allowed to stop the bout/round, and point out any violations and give an opportunity to correct the issue, and if necessary, remove the offending person/people for the remainder of that bout/round.
- Cautions or warnings can given for grappling during combat, moving out of bounds etc.
- Brief "time outs" can be given to participants exhibiting signs of distress (heat, fatigue, dizziness, etc), or loss of temper, who should be asked to leave the field until they have recovered or cooled off.
- Removal or exclusion can be used for violation of the rules. This includes, but is not limited to:
- not accepting blows
- excessive blows
- ignoring the rules of engagement
- discourteous behavior
- behavior that is dangerous to participants,
- an action which forces their opponent to retire from the field due to an injury.
- If the issue is resolved with discussion, this could be the end of the matter.
- If you are removing or excluding someone, you must explain why, including being able to point to the rule or standard that has been violated.
- They cannot appeal this, as the bout/round is over at that point.
- You must report that you have sent someone off to the marshal-in-charge of the activity, who will report it up the chain of command. Include information about:
- What happened
- What you did
- Whether you believe further action is required.
- If the marshal-in-charge of the activity determines that you have made an incorrect decision, you can accept that your decision was incorrect, appeal to the next in the chain of command, change your decision, or remove yourself from further marshaling in this activity.
Marshal-in-charge of the activity
- An incident can come to your attention in a number of ways:
- You see it happen
- You hear about it happening
- It's officially reported to you
- Someone appeals a decision to you
- Investigate what happened and determine whether the marshals have so far made the right decision. Gather enough information to be able to make an informed decision and be able to explain why you made that decision. Take into account previous known incidents involving the participant(s).
- You could decide that:
- No further action is required.
- One or more people should be removed or excluded from the remainder of the activity.
- The marshal has made an incorrect decision.
- If you believe that there needs to be further action taken, you can make this recommendation to the marshal-in-charge of the discipline for the event.
- Inform them that they are allowed to appeal to the next in the chain of command, change their decision, or remove themselves from further marshaling in this activity.
- If necessary, you can remove or exclude the marshal from the remainder of the activity.
- If you are removing or excluding someone, you must explain why, including being able to point to the rule or standard that has been violated.
- You must explain that they can appeal this decision to the marshal-in-charge of the discipline for the event, or higher, but the exclusion is in effect until a determination is made to uphold or reverse the decision.
- You must pass the information to the marshal-in-charge of the discipline for the event, who will report it up the chain of command. Include information about:
- What happened
- What you did
- Whether you believe further action is required.
- If the marshal-in-charge of the discipline determines that you have made an incorrect decision, you can accept that your decision was incorrect, appeal to the next in the chain of command, change your decision, or remove yourself from being marshal-in-charge of the activity.
- You must include any incidents in your activity reporting.
Marshal-in-charge of the discipline at the event
- An incident can come to your attention in a number of ways:
- You see it happen
- You hear about it happening
- It's officially reported to you
- Someone appeals a decision to you
- Investigate what happened and determine whether the marshals have so far made the right decision. Gather enough information to be able to make an informed decision and be able to explain why you made that decision. Take into account previous known incidents involving the participant(s).
- You could decide that:
- No further action is required.
- One or more people should be removed or excluded from one or more of the activities of your discipline at the event.
- You must inform the marshals-in-charge of the activities, so that they know who has been excluded.
- If you believe that there needs to be further action, such as removing them from other martial activities during the event, you can make this recommendation to the marshal-in-charge of the event.
- If you believe that there needs to be further action taken beyond what you have already applied or supported, you can make this recommendation to the Kingdom Marshal for the discipline, or Principality Marshal for the discipline if part of your Kingdom marshalate structure.
- The marshal has made an incorrect decision.
- Inform them that they are allowed to appeal to the next in the chain of command, change their decision, or remove themselves from their marshal role.
- If necessary, you can remove the marshal from the remainder of the activities of that discipline at the event.
- If you choose to override a marshalate decision made by another marshal who answers to you in the chain of command, you have taken on the responsibility for any incident that then occurs related to your decision.
- If you are removing or excluding someone, you must explain why, including being able to point to the rule or standard that has been violated.
- You must explain that they can appeal this decision to the marshal-in-charge of the event, or higher, but the exclusion is in effect until a determination is made to uphold or reverse the decision.
- You must pass the information to the marshal-in-charge of the event, who will report it up the chain of command. Include information about:
- What happened
- What you did
- Whether you believe further action is required.
- If the marshal-in-charge of the event determines that you have made an incorrect decision, you can accept that your decision was incorrect, appeal to the next in the chain of command, change your decision, or remove yourself from being marshal-in-charge of the discipline.
- You must include any incidents in your discipline in your event report.
Marshal-in-charge of the event
- An incident can come to your attention in a number of ways:
- You hear about it happening.
- It's officially reported to you.
- Someone appeals a decision to you.
- Investigate what happened and determine whether the marshals have so far made the right decision. Gather enough information, including consulting with subject matter experts, to be able to make an informed decision and be able to explain why you made that decision. Take into account previous known incidents involving the participant(s). A mechanism to achieve this could be holding a marshal's court to gather information and expert advice, and hear about the incident directly from those involved.
- You could decide that:
- No further action is required.
- One or more people should be excluded from one or more further martial activities at the event.
- You must inform the marshals running any further activities at the event, so that they know who has been excluded.
- If you believe that there needs to be further action taken beyond what you have already applied or supported, you can make this recommendation to the Kingdom Earl Marshal, or Principality Earl Marshal if part of your Kingdom marshalate structure.
- The marshal has made an incorrect decision.
- Inform them that they are allowed to appeal to the next in the chain of command, change their decision, or remove themselves from their marshal role.
- If necessary, you can remove the marshal from marshaling or participation in further martial activities at the event.
- If you choose to override a marshalate decision made by another marshal who answers to you in the chain of command, you have taken on the responsibility for any incident that then occurs related to your decision.
- If you are removing or excluding someone, you must explain why, including being able to point to the rule or standard that has been violated.
- You must explain that they can appeal this decision to the Kingdom/Principality Earl Marshal, or higher, but the exclusion is in effect until a decision is made to uphold or reverse the decision, or the event is over.
- You must inform the Kingdom Earl Marshal, or Principality Earl Marshal if part of your Kingdom marshalate structure, and the relevant Earl Marshal for the offending person, if they are from another kingdom.
- If you believe that there needs to be further action taken, you can make this recommendation to the relevant Earl Marshal for the offending person.
- You must include the details of any incidents reported to you in your event report.
Kingdom or Principality Deputy for a discipline
- An incident can come to your attention in a number of ways:
- You hear about it happening.
- It's officially reported to you.
- Someone appeals a decision to you.
- Investigate what happened and determine whether the marshals have so far made the right decision. Gather enough information to be able to make an informed decision and be able to explain why you made that decision. Take into account previous known incidents involving the participant(s).
- You could decide that:
- No further action is required.
- One or more people should have one or more of their authorizations in your discipline suspended or revoked.
- If the authorization is not issued by your kingdom, you should make a recommendation to suspend/revoke the authorization to the relevant kingdom/principality's deputy for the discipline.
- If you believe that there needs to be further action taken beyond what you have already applied or supported, you can make this recommendation to the Kingdom Earl Marshal, or Principality Earl Marshal if part of your Kingdom marshalate structure.
- The marshal has made an incorrect decision.
- Inform them that they are allowed to appeal to the next in the chain of command, change their decision, or remove themselves from their marshal role at the event.
- If necessary, you can suspend the marshal's warrant for up to 90 days, or as a joint decision with the Crown, revoke the warrant entirely.
- You must explain why you are suspending or revoking their authorization, which authorization is being suspended/revoked, the duration, and any conditions for how they can regain their authorization.
- You must explain that they can appeal this decision to the Kingdom/Principality Earl Marshal, or higher, but the suspension/revocation remains in place until a determination is made to uphold or reverse the decision.
- You must include the details of the suspension/revocation in your report to the Kingdom/Principality Earl Marshal.
- You must inform the group marshals for your discipline within your kingdom and the Kingdom Deputy for your discipline of any neighboring kingdoms that the participant might visit.
- If you believe that there needs to be further sanctions applied, follow the sanctions guidelines.
Kingdom or Principality Earl Marshal
- An incident can come to your attention in a number of ways:
- You hear about it happening.
- It's officially reported to you.
- Someone appeals a decision to you.
- You must investigate what happened and determine whether the marshals have so far made the right decision. Gather enough information, including consulting with your deputies, to be able to make an informed decision and be able to explain why you made that decision. Take into account previous known incidents involving the participant(s).
- You could decide that:
- No further action is required.
- One or more people should have one or more of their authorizations suspended or revoked.
- If the authorization is not issued by your kingdom, you should make a recommendation to suspend/revoke the authorization to the relevant kingdom/principality's Earl Marshal.
- The marshal has made an incorrect decision.
- Reverse the decision.
- If necessary, you can suspend the marshal's warrant for up to 90 days, or as a joint decision with the Crown, revoke the warrant entirely.
- You must explain why you are suspending or revoking their authorizations/warrants, which authorizations/warrants are being suspended/revoked, the duration, and any conditions for how they can regain their authorizations/warrants.
- You must explain that they can appeal this decision to the Society Marshal, or higher, but the suspension/revocation remains in place until a determination is made to uphold or reverse the decision.
- You must include the details of the suspension/revocation in your report to the Society Marshal.
- You must inform the group marshals within the kingdom, and the Kingdom Earl Marshal of any neighboring kingdoms that the participant might visit.
- If the fighter is subsequently re-authorized, the group marshals within the kingdom and the Kingdom Earl Marshals shall again be notified.
- If you believe that there need to be further sanctions applied, follow the sanctions guidelines.
Marshal's reviews and marshal's courts
Marshal's review
- A marshal's review can be held at each event where martial activities occur to:
- Identify issues from the day's activities.
- Review potential infractions, and enable experienced marshals to help determine the appropriate actions.
- The marshal-in-charge of the event should convene the review at the end of the day's martial activities. In the case of an event that spans several days (such as a war), a marshal's review should be held each day.
Marshal's court
- The marshal-in-charge can choose to convene a marshal's court at any time during an event to deal with incidents or a serious situation as it occurs, as needed.
- A marshal's court provides for:
- investigation and resolution of incidents from martial activities at the event level
- additional witnesses and expert advice if needed to evaluate a more complex situation.
- If the marshal-in-charge of the event decides to hold a marshal's court over a matter, the defendant(s) and complainant(s) must be informed that a marshal's court will be convened at the event, and where and when it will be held.
- The marshal-in-charge must then make the arrangements to hold the marshal's court.
- The court must be composed of at a minimum:
- the marshal-in-charge of the event
- the marshal-in-charge of the discipline at the event in which the incident occurred
- other warranted marshals that the marshal-in-charge of the event deems relevant to the incident.
- If any member of the court feels that they have a conflict of interest, they must inform the marshal-in-charge of the event so the marshal-in-charge of the event can note the conflict or choose another warranted marshal.
- The defendant(s) and complainant(s) are allowed to have a support person present, and be represented by another person.
- The court must review the complaint, and should seek additional information from witnesses or involved parties.
- The defendant(s) must be given an opportunity to present their side of the story, and are allowed to call witnesses or involved parties to speak on their behalf.
- The marshal-in-charge of the event must reach a decision based on the advice of the court. The marshal-in-charge of the event could decide:
- That the defendant was not guilty of any action which requires disciplinary action.
- That there were mitigating circumstances which led to the complaint and that disciplinary action is not necessary.
- To warn the defendant that they could face disciplinary action if needed or should the problems which led to the complaint continue.
- To remove the defendant from martial event(s) for that day.
- To remove the defendant from all martial events for that event.
- To also recommend that there needs to be further action taken, beyond the scope of the event.
- The marshal-in-charge of the event (or their representative) must ensure that a 'Marshal's Court Report' is included in the event report, forwarded to the Kingdom Earl Marshal, with a copy given to the defendant.
- Any decision by the marshal-in-charge of the event remains in effect until reviewed by the next level in the chain of command.