Judge Dredd // Cadet Judge and Academy of Law

Welcome to a miniature Monday. Today is a mongoose gaming Cadet Judge, and to be honest I didn't feel like writing a whole backstory for the model. Due to a combination of receiving my first jab and the fact that the model isn't a great example of casting. With this running through my head, I instead have chosen to write about the Academy of Law, this is all fiction from the 2000 AD background and readily available across the internet.

Training a Street Judge takes fifteen long, hard years (although exceptional cadets may graduate earlier through a fast-track program, usually in thirteen years). Many of the entrants to the Academy of Law never make it to the streets of Mega-City One as a full Judge. The Academy is sometimes referred to as "The toughest school on earth". Cadets are either cloned from proven genetic stock or are recruited into the Academy, typically at the age of five. They are then expected to learn the basics of law enforcement very quickly, and any failure during their rigorous training is likely to lead to expulsion. Only two in seven cadets graduate. On graduating cadets attain Rookie Judge status and are awarded their half eagle badge and white helmet (See my photo.)

Cadet judges attend regular classes on all aspects of policing and controlling a 22nd Century Megalopolis. Both practical and mental skills are vital to their progress at the Academy, so they are subjected to continual assessment by their judge-tutors. One of the standard texts at the academy is The Comportment of a Judge - a reference guide for street judges written by Judge Dredd, and often known as "Dredd's Comportment". The Academy of Law is a self-contained environment for prospective judges - affording them somewhere to live, train both physically and mentally, and to be tested. However, cadets do have to go outside in groups for their "Hotdog Run," a combat mission into the Cursed Earth radiation desert. This is usually a cadet's first real test of their training in actual combat conditions.

By the 2110s, it was a practice to take the most violent cadets at age 6, those considered too much for the streets, and put them in special training for outer space Corps fireteams. In 2116, the Academy was allowing juves to try again for entry at age twelve; if approved, they couldn't become street Judges but might become off-world colony Judges.

Psis are taken from the Academy to Psi Division's own specialist training school, though they are also taught the same law and combat skills as Street Judges.

Rookie judges must also pass a "final street test" before they can graduate. Only when they have satisfied a serving judge that they can handle themselves on the streets of Mega-City One can a rookie leave the Academy with his or her black helmet and full eagle badge.

Flunked cadets struggle to fit back into society, having been conditioned into thinking being a Judge is the only thing that would matter. Many have suffered mental breakdowns, substance abuse problems, and early death.