Dealing with a real Death Note

[henryp]

I suspect there are agencies in most governments that would deal with this off the books. So while there may be no legal way to prosecute him, it'd get resolved none the less.

[Joods]

I have a list of names that need to go in that book. 

All kidding aside - seriously that sounds like one powerful book that shouldn't be in the hands of just anyone. A book like that should be destroyed. And as long as there is a probable link between the owner of the book and the people who die after having their names written in it - yes - the owner should be punished.

[brewer]

Is it the book, or the guy or the book/guy linked? How many people die when he writes a generic "John Smith"? Does the guy have to know the person or give specific details? If he writes "Bessie the Cow" will a cow die or will cows plus any human Bessie's that have been called cows die?

Maybe I'm over thinking this, but testing, testing, testing!

[robvalue]

Is it the book, or the guy or the book/guy linked? How many people die when he writes a generic "John Smith"? Does the guy have to know the person or give specific details? If he writes "Bessie the Cow" will a cow die or will cows plus any human Bessie's that have been called cows die?

Maybe I'm over thinking this, but testing, testing, testing!

Haha well, I'll describe how it works in the show. Mild spoilers! The show handles everything pretty well in my opinion. I highly recommend it to anyone. You're describing the thought process and experimentation of the guy who first finds it.

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There is a link between a book and its owner, explained further in the show, but the book will still work even if other people write in it.

When writing the name, you have to also have the image of the person you want to kill in your mind. Everyone else with the same name is unaffected. If you don't know what they look like, or don't know their real name (or misspell it), it won't work.

Killing animals is never brought up exactly, but I think it's pretty clear it applies just to humans.

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[brewer]

For me, if you can demonstrate motive, intent, repeatable cause and effect the guy/book should be neutralized. Not much legal precedent for that so........ declare him legally insane and apply the chemical strait jacket.

[Rev. Rye]

Is it the book, or the guy or the book/guy linked? How many people die when he writes a generic "John Smith"? Does the guy have to know the person or give specific details? If he writes "Bessie the Cow" will a cow die or will cows plus any human Bessie's that have been called cows die?

Maybe I'm over thinking this, but testing, testing, testing!

In the show, you have to know the person's face and name, which will cause the person in question, and not others with the same name, to die. At one point, L met Light and gives a fake name which is the same as a celebrity Light is a fan of. He does not take the bait because he knows if he writes the name down, he'll picture the pop star and kill him instead of L.

Rules for the Death Note:

The human whose name is written in this note shall die.
This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.
If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen.
If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

If we're going to be talking about the possibility of a real Death Note, it's probably necessary we keep the rules for such a thing in mind.

[The Grand Nudger]

Imagine the same scenario, no magic, but a book of written momento and a string of missing persons cases /w no bodies.  Guy with the books going to jail.

[robvalue]

For me, if you can demonstrate motive, intent, repeatable cause and effect the guy/book should be neutralized. Not much legal precedent for that so........ declare him legally insane and apply the chemical strait jacket.

That is exactly the problem, no precedent. Of course the scenario is never going to happen, but I think it's interesting to consider how society would deal with a complete anomaly like this.

I agree, you'd have to do something once you've established those things. The problem, I suppose, is what precedent you could be setting for the future. You can now convict people without establishing how they actually did what they did. You can convict someone sitting in a room for months for things going on around the world, on nothing more than correlation of seemingly unconnected events.

I expect a coverup would be the most likely thing. Maybe it would be said that he's the head of some global terrorist network who have been using chemical weapons that are extremely hard to detect. Or else he'd just get "disappeared". I suppose it would depend on how much the public knew. The thing is, a coverup could easily work since no one would believe the guy's version of events.

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Imagine the same scenario, no magic, but a book of written momento and a string of missing persons cases /w no bodies.  Guy with the books going to jail.

Yeah, that could prove guilt just based on the fact that the guy would have had to know about the missing people in order to write it in a book. If it could be shown that he wrote about them before the information even became available to the police, I suppose you could infer he must be involved somehow, even if he refuses to say how.

This is different because the "killings" from the book often happen right out in the open. However, if it could again be shown that the names were written before the people died, then that would imply involvement in whatever was actually killing them. At the least, the guy would be covering up where he was getting the information, so maybe he's be an accomplice rather than the murderer.

[pocaracas]

This is an imaginary fantastical scenario question. For those not interested, please drive through!

For those not familiar, Death Note is a brilliant manga/anime series about a titular magic book, which has the power to kill anyone whose name is written in it. (There's a bit more to it, but I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen the show yet.)

Pretend this happened for real; or at least, it appeared to. A series of unexplained deaths all happened to be recorded in a book this guy had. Further observation of the guy shows that people continue to inexplicably die shortly after he writes more names (minimum 40 seconds in the show).

What would be the legal implications? If there was no physical evidence that connected him to the murders other than writing their name, could he be held accountable? Would anyone even have grounds to confiscate the book? Would the law eventually have to change, or special consideration be made, assuming he just continued to "kill" people?

Innocent until found guilty.
How would a court declare a bunch of names written in a book any more than circumstantial evidence?

[brewer]

You don't need a court for a medical diagnosis. Round the clock Thorazine.