Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-28092296-20190511133719

''This post is aimed at trying to figure out what crimes members of the Town have committed. Since the Salem Witch Trials happened in Massachusetts, I will be using Massachusetts' laws. I will also be using their present-day laws since I feel like I won't be able to find specific enough information for laws that existed during the Salem Witch Trials. Also, I’ll be listing crimes if they only happened once. So, for example, instead of nailing the Escort with seven or ten different prostitution crimes, I’ll just be listing the punishment for doing it once since games can vary in length.''

Disclaimer Section: I’m not a lawyer, or anybody who is an expert in the field of the law. If you want to, you can take my results with a grain of salt. Don’t look at me like I know everything about the law. I did the best I could to make this, but I do not work for the law or hold a position related to enforcing or otherwise securing the law. If you think that my results are inaccurate, you are free to post your own version of this. I didn’t look at anybody else’s work for this chart. If somebody else on the internet got the same results as me, don’t think that I’m copying them. I don’t watch Town of Salem on YouTube, use the Reddit pages, etc., so I don’t know if somebody else made this exact chart or not.

When I say somebody is going to "jail", that probably means that they're going to the House of Correction, which is a jail designed for minor offenders. Again, I'm not 100% sure.

Crimes All Town Members have Committed:

Violation of the Fifth Amendment: Every role in the game can potentially violate the Fifth Amendment, which states that you cannot put somebody in trial for the same thing twice, as well as disregarding the right for a lawyer during trial. The reason why I’m not charging roles for this crime is because there’s a (big enough) possibility that you can load up a Town of Salem match and not vote for the same person twice to be put in trial for the same reason or that all suspects don’t want lawyers so I don’t feel like nailing anybody with this crime. In fact, I’d say that the majority of the time, people only go on trial once for something that they did. After that, they’re dismissed as innocent, a Jester, or they die. (Also, violating the Fifth Amendment would basically mean everybody goes to prison for life or something anyways so that wouldn’t make my results for prison time as interesting)

Violation of the Eighth Amendment: The Eighth Amendment states that “no cruel and unusual punishment shall be inflicted.” Many of the execution methods in Town of Salem are slow and/or painful, such as drowning, being forced to fight somebody (Beelzebub’s death animation), burning to death and so forth.

Reasoning Section (Area to sort out the logic of what I did):

Bodyguard: The Bodyguard only commits prostitution crimes. The Bodyguard’s official description is: “A ex-soldier who secretly makes a living by selling protection.” That shouldn’t qualify as trespassing, as the owner of the property approves the Bodyguard being on their land.

Doctor: The Doctor only commits Prostitution crimes and Trespassing. If the Doctor’s target was dying, then, yes, you are allowed to break Trespassing laws to try and save your life, however, since most of the time the Doctor just randomly visits people without saving them from death, I’ll count trespassing against the Doctor.

Medium: The Medium only commits prostitution crimes.

Escort: Since the Escort engages in prostitution, I’m giving her a five-month sentence in the House of Correction for doing so. However, the Escort doesn’t technically commit trespassing, so I can’t fine her for that.

Mayor: The Mayor not only engages in prostitution-related activity, but he commits voter fraud. He has three votes instead of one, which is unconstitutional and will see him facing two charges of voter fraud. The charges mean up to a fine of $10,000 and imprisonment for five years. Since he votes three times and not twice, I’m going to give him a fine of $15,000 and imprisonment for five years.

Transporter: The Transporter’s description and in-game information is too vague as to figure out whether or not he kidnaps his targets or if the Transporter is transporting them with their permission (and therefore doesn’t commit trespassing). Due to the “innocent until proven guilty” issue, I can’t say that the Transporter is doing anything wrong, so I can’t nail the Transporter with any punishments.

Retributionist: The Retributionist commits prostitution-related activity.

Investigator: The Investigator commits prostitution and trespassing-related activity. Surprisingly, everything else the Investigator does is legal. However, since the Investigator not only trespasses but also snoops inside of people’s property, I’m giving the Investigator another $100 fine and imprisonment for 2 months in jail. The Investigator cannot be charged for breaking and entering, since he does not have the intent to commit a misdemeanor or federal offense such as burglary or harassment.

Sheriff: The Sheriff commits a prostitution-related crime, but does not commit trespassing. I don’t know if the Sheriff has a license to enter people’s property, but I’m going to assume so as he is the town sheriff. Since the description of the Sheriff is somebody who goes into hiding from threat of murder, he could be convicted of failing to uphold the law. I couldn’t find enough information on this, but the Sheriff would also be responsible for not protecting their target whenever they are attacked. So, since the Sheriff doesn’t attack Mafioso’s or try and get their target medical assistance, the Sheriff would be punished for doing that.

Spy: The Spy commits prostitution and trespassing-related laws. Since the Spy doesn’t have any legitimate claims as an official private investigator, he can be convicted of stalking, as he watches what happens to a target at night (bug ability). This means that the Spy can be sued for 1-5 years in a state prison or in a jail for 1-5 years. Since the Spy doesn’t seem to cause trauma to whoever he bugs, but still gathers and potentially records information about his target(s), I’m giving him 2 years in jail.

Lookout: In addition to prostitution and trespassing laws, the Lookout can be considered a stalker. He gets a punishment of 1 year in jail.

Vigilante: Surprisingly, vigilantism is technically legal in the US. However, the Vigilante can still be charged for murder. The Vigilante commits first degree murder, as the Vigilante is supposed to plan around who they are going to kill, while second and third degree murder means you did no premeditation. The Vigilante gets a life sentence in prison without parole in addition to trespassing and engaging in sexual misconduct.

Veteran: The Veteran’s only charge is manslaughter. Depending on how you look at the Veteran’s situation, you can argue that the Veteran committed voluntary manslaughter (this is defined as someone being reasonably provoked into committing murder on purpose; e.g. accidental, from an argument or trespassing/paranoia from trespassers) or involuntary manslaughter (you can argue that the Veteran was acting in self defense). I decided to give the Veteran a voluntary manslaughter statement because that made more sense to me. This means the Veteran would get 3-20 years in prison. I’d say that the Veteran gets a lower prison statement because shooting somebody trespassing on your property/in your house is a reasonably justifiable reason to commit murder, so I’ll give him 4 years in prison.

Jailor: The Jailor is not the official Town executioner. I should get that out of the way. The Jailor’s death note, while it may look fancy, does not automatically qualify the Jailor as officially a member of law enforcement. In addition, the Jailor’s description whenever you roll the role in Town of Salem is: “A prison guard that secretly details suspects.” This to me signals that the Jailor does not have the authority to be able to decide whether or not a target is guilty. This would mean that the Jailor dragging people off to jail is kidnapping. Since the Jailor can execute—and therefore kill—his targets, the sentence is increased from a maximum of 10 years in prison to a mandatory 25 years in prison. Additionally, executing somebody without a proper trial is a crime in itself in America regardless, as well as being a violation of the sixth amendment as everybody in America has the right to have a lawyer during a trial. On top of this (and the usual prostitution punishment), the Jailor also commits felony murder. Since kidnapping is a federal offense, the Jailor would go to prison for life without parole for also committing murder while doing another federal crime.

Vampire Hunter: The Vampire Hunter (as per usual) is slapped with a $500 fine for sexual misconduct and $100 and 30 days in jail for trespassing. In addition, the Vampire Hunter listening to the Vampire chat is considered wiretapping and therefore means he can be charged with up to $10,000 dollars and 5 years in state jail. Because the Vampire Hunter literally listens to the Vampire’s conversations for an entire night, the VH will be receiving a sentence of $10,000 and 4 years in jail. Using the information the VH finds from eavesdropping (using something Vampires said in chat as evidence to convict somebody as guilty) is another $5,000 and/or 2 years in jail. The punishment for the Vampire Hunter for using private conversation as evidence will be 2 years in jail since he’s trying to use that evidence to get people killed or confirm people as innocent (almost all of the time). On top of this, the Vampire Hunter would get prison for life without parole for committing first degree murder.

Coven DLC Roles: Crusader: On top of the trespassing and prostitution fines, the Crusader would be convicted for voluntary manslaughter, as attacking somebody visiting a stranger’s house would be a reason to cause duress but not justify as self-defense, or even protecting somebody in danger. This would be 3-20 years in prison. The Crusader probably would get 20 years due to the nature of how the Crusader would have murdered someone.

Trapper: Since the Trapper is designed around creating a trap and waiting for somebody to die, I’d qualify the Trapper’s kills as first degree murder (Oh, yeah, also the prostitution and trespassing stuff). That means prison for life without parole.

Tracker: The Tracker technically doesn’t commit stalking as that requires malicious intent when tracking somebody, however, since it’s so close to what the definition to stalking is, I feel like I can call this “following somebody” and deliver only a very light stalking punishment. Since stalking results in up to 5 years in jail or up to $10,000 in fines, the Tracker probably gets a lighter punishment. I’ve concluded that a fine of $6,500 and no jail time is sufficient.

Psychic: Surprisingly, this role doesn’t commit any crimes outside of involvement in prostitution.

Regarding Prostitution/Trespassing: Prostitution: All Townies that do not deny the Escort/Consort’s services face a fine of a few hundred dollars and/or a prison sentence from a few months to a year in the House of Correction. I’m just gonna give everybody a fine of $500 since most prostitution cases aren’t considered huge offenses.

This means every Town role minus the Transporter and Veteran (they are roleblock immune so I’ll assume that they deny engagement in prostitution) are slapped with this fine. The Escort also technically is roleblock immune, but because she is the prostitute, she’ll also get hit with fines for offering to have sex, which I’ll get into later.

Trespassing: Every Town Role that can visit people without a proper excuse or justification as to what they are doing is committing trespassing. That means a fine of at maximum $100 and 30 days in jail. 