Act of Congress Small Crimes Scaling Act

[greymc]

CONGRESS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT
​

---

A BILL TO

PREVENT PEOPLE FROM COMMITTING SMALL CRIMES




​

---

The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:


​

PART I — PRELIMINARIES

1. Short Title and Enactment

(1) This Act may be cited as the ‘Small Crimes Scaling Act’

(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.

(3) This Act has been authored by Speaker _GreyMC.

(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Deputy Speaker HatManMC..

(5) This Act amends the following acts:

(a) Criminal Code Act

2. Reasons and Intent

(1) Currently, people feel free to rob from NPCs like Vivian and rob ATMs with no to minimal jail time, and only a small fine. This leads to a loss of money for the Commonwealth and the notion that small crimes are ok.

(2) This act will introduce scaling offenses for NPC & ATM Robbery, including introducing jail time for NPC Robbery. Threats and other offenses will also have scaling introduced.

(3) To lessen this burden, this act also introduces the ability for one to turn themselves in.

PART II — AMENDMENTS

4. Criminal Code Act

(1) Part I, Section §6(12) of the Criminal Code Act shall be enumerated as follows:

(12) Voluntary Surrender
(a) A person may voluntarily surrender themselves to an NPC at the police station.
(b) If a person voluntarily surrenders themself, they may qualify for a reduced sentence and fine pursuant to Department of Homeland Security policy.
(i) A person's penalties may not be reduced by more than 50% if they surrender themselves.

(2) Part V, Section §4 of the Criminal Code Act shall be amended as follows:

4 - Threats
Offence Type: Summary
Penalty: 1 Penalty Unit
(a) First offence - 1 Penalty Unit
(b) Subsequent offences - 2 Penalty Units; 5 minutes imprisonment
A person commits an offence if the person:
(a) verbally threatens another player with communication to cause fear or force action.
Relevant Law:

(3) Part V, Section §7-8 of the Criminal Code Act shall be amended as follows:

7 - Careless Operation of Vehicles
Offence Type: Summary
Penalty: 1 Penalty Unit
(a) First offence - 1 Penalty Unit
(b) Subsequent offences - 2 Penalty Units; 5 minutes imprisonment
A person commits an offence if the person:
(a) operates a vehicle off-road, on sidewalks, or otherwise improperly; or
(b) blocks traffic, operates a vehicle on the wrong side, or endangers others; or
(c) while under the influence (25% BAC or higher):
(i) operates a vehicle; or
(ii) operates an aircraft.
Relevant Law:

8 - Resisting Arrest
Offence Type: Summary
Penalty: 1 Penalty Unit
(a) First offence - 1 Penalty Unit
(b) Subsequent offences - 2 Penalty Units; 5 minutes imprisonment
A person commits an offence if the person:
(a) disregards or defies a directive given by a law enforcement officer while being arrested; or
(b) escapes from handcuffs; or
(c) disconnects from the server after being handcuffed.
Relevant Law:

(4) Part VIII, Section §5 of the Criminal Code Act shall be amended as follows:

5 - ATM Robbery
Offence Type: Summary
Penalty: 2 Penalty Units; 5 minutes imprisonment
(a) First offence - 2 Penalty Units; 5 minutes imprisonment
(b) Second offence - 2 Penalty Units; 10 minutes imprisonment
(c) Subsequent offence - 3 Penalty Units; 10 minutes imprisonment
A person commits an offence if the person:
(a) steals, attempts to steal, or attempts to hack money from an Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
Relevant Law:

(5) Part VIII, Section §8 of the Criminal Code Act shall be amended as follows:

8 - NPC Robbery
Offence Type: Summary
Penalty: 1 Penalty Unit
(a) First offence - 1 Penalty Unit
(b) Second offence - 2 Penalty Units; 5 minutes imprisonment
(c) Subsequent offences - 3 Penalty Units; 10 minutes imprisonment
A person commits an offence if the person:
(a) steals or attempts to steal money from a Non-Player Character (NPC).
Relevant Law:

(6) Part X, Section §13 of the Criminal Code Act shall be amended as follows:

13 - Operating Without A License
Offence Type: Summary
Penalty: 1 Penalty Unit
(a) First offence - 1 Penalty Unit
(b) Subsequent offences - 2 Penalty Units; 5 minutes imprisonment
A person commits an offence if the person:
(a) drives a car without a Drivers License, or
(b) pilots a plane or helicopter without a Pilots License.
Relevant Law:

(7) Part V, §2 of the Criminal Code Act shall be amended as follows:

2 - Dispersal Order Breach
Offence Type: Summary
Penalty: 12 Penalty Unit; 15 minutes imprisonment
A person commits an offence if the person:
(a) violates an established dispersal order.

 

[greymc]

I am voting AYE on this bill. I also voted AYE before when I was in the House. I have to change my vote sadly, so I am sending what the vote looked like before I changed it.

 

[greymc]

Results prior to S-10/40

 

[Kaizered]

- Conflicted about changes since I'm all for balancing the Crime RP system, where criminals still exist for the sake of RP, but still punished to a fair degree.

 

[xXTheoryXx]

Presidential Assent

PRESIDENTIAL ASSENT​

---

The Small Crimes Scaling Act replaces the flat penalties for Threats, Careless Operation of Vehicles, Resisting Arrest, ATM Robbery, NPC Robbery and Operating Without a Licence with ladders that leave the first offence where it is and add fines and short custodial terms for the second and later offences. It raises Dispersal Order Breach to 2 Penalty Units and 15 minutes imprisonment, and it adds a Voluntary Surrender principle to Part I, §6 of the Code, under which the Department of Homeland Security may reduce the penalty of a person who hands themselves in by no more than half. The design is right. A first offence is usually a new player finding out where the lines are, and the Code should say so once, cheaply. A fourth ATM robbery is a habit, and the Code should price it as one.

I record the following for Congress and for the Office of Congressional Affairs. These are not conditions of my assent.

1. The Bill runs from section 2 to section 4. Section 3 is not missing anything; it is simply missing. The Office may renumber under §6(8)(a) of the Legislative Standards Act, and may tidy "2 Penalty Unit" in the Dispersal Order Breach penalty while it is there.

2. Each ladder counts a person's prior convictions for that offence to find their step. Conduct before this assent is punished at the rate in force when it occurred, as Part I, §6(3) of the Code requires; conduct after it is punished at the new rate for the step the person has reached.

3. The Voluntary Surrender principle applies to summary punishments issued by the Department. It does not bind a court sentencing an indictable offence, where surrender is a mitigating circumstance under Part I, §5(2). The Department should publish its surrender policy, including how a surrender is recorded, and the 50% cap in paragraph (i) applies to the fine and to the custodial term separately. Paragraph (a) names one way to surrender; paragraph (b) does not confine the reduction to it, and the Department may recognise surrender to an officer as well.

4. Section 4(7) is the one change in this Act that does not scale. A first breach of a dispersal order now carries 15 minutes imprisonment, which is the custodial term the Code sets for Murder. I assent because a dispersal order is issued in a situation the Department has already judged to be disorder, and a breach is a choice made after a warning. The Department should issue such orders for disorder and not for assembly, and Congress should look again if the penalty is being used to clear lawful protest.

Accordingly, I assent to this Bill, and it is enacted as law.

I thank Speaker _GreyMC for authoring the Bill and Deputy Speaker HatManMC for co-sponsoring it.

Given under my hand and the Seal of the President on 21 September 2026

Theory Fontaine
30th President of the Commonwealth of Redmont​