# Is killing people even against the law in the Star Wars universe? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [February 17, 2022, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703 "2022-02-17T22:11:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703/21 "2022-02-18T13:45:09Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The most notable moustache-wearer is a known gambler and con man, I can see why moustaches aren’t associated with being law-abiding there. Assuming you mean Lando Calrissian, I don’t know what you’re talking about. He was the administrator of a tibanna gas mining facility, a perfectly respectable and above-board businessman. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703/22 "2022-02-18T13:46:01Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Maybe Disney+ will come out with a police/legal procedural show about working lawyers on Coruscant or Corellia. I would watch that! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703/23 "2022-02-18T14:02:19Z")
Wait, doesn’t the Mandalorian have respectable facial hair, too? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703/24 "2022-02-18T14:48:52Z")
Sure does. And Marshal Cobb Vanth (Seth Bullock in space!) is rocking a beard/mustache combo so distinguished it should honestly stop crime in a 12 parsec radius. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703/25 "2022-02-18T15:35:43Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And in fact, when we’re told the reason why The Mandalorian is pursuing a particular quarry, it’s usually because they’ve skipped bail. Which seems counter-intuitive from the bail bondsman perspective. Having the fugitive’s head in a bag doesn’t get them their money back. At best it’s a deterrent to to the next being considering departing the system. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703/26 "2022-02-18T15:42:17Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Which seems counter-intuitive from the bail bondsman perspective. Having the fugitive’s head in a bag doesn’t get them their money back. I’m pretty sure that’s how it works in real life. If a fugitive dies on the run, all charges are dismissed (abated by death) and the bond is released to the lender. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703/27 "2022-02-18T17:21:51Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Don’t even get me started on clones… What about clones? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703/28 "2022-02-18T17:26:29Z")
The Rebellion never truly recovered after losing this guy. [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EouvaiYVoAAmmQ0.jpg) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EouvaiYVoAAmmQ0.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703/29 "2022-02-18T17:33:37Z")
Regarding historical (say, “old west”) bounty hunting, how prevalent was the tropish “wanted dead or alive” contract? It’s pretty obviously _de rigueur_ in Star Wars. If, for instance, Vader had to insist repeatedly on his targets being brought in alive. ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703/30 "2022-02-18T17:39:28Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > The most notable moustache-wearer is a known gambler and con man, I can see why moustaches aren’t associated with being law-abiding there. The scoundrel! I bet he drinks malt liquor too! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703/31 "2022-02-18T17:47:52Z")
We’ve seen some “dead or alive” contracts, some “alive only” or “dead only”, and some with different bounties for different conditions. He doesn’t always ask “I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold”. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2022, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703/32 "2022-02-18T17:48:16Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I asked here because it sure seems that there is little much better on the ground in the worlds we see after the Rebels have won. Still pretty much might makes right fiefdoms and criminal gangs running the shows. But not centrally sanctioned genocides or systematic discrimination. Well, one of the common themes in Star Wars is the issue of how hard it is to actually run a government on a Galactic scale. Part of what made it possible for Palpatine to take over in the first place is that the Republic was pretty shitty at doing government-type things. They had a massive bureaucracy that couldn’t even keep up with planet-to-planet government issues like trade policy and peacekeeping. Adding in trying to have an influence over day-to-day interactions between individual people, like enforcing murder and assault statutes, would have been orders of magnitude more difficult. So, by and large, the Galactic-level government pretty much ignores everything that happens on any given planet. “Run your little world well enough that we never need to notice you” is pretty much all the law they impose. So local powers can pretty much do whatever they want, so long as they don’t screw up badly enough to make the Galactic government notice them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-killing-people-even-against-the-law-in-the-star-wars-universe/959703.md?page=1)