Bill: Vote Theft Criminalization Act

[Franciscus]

A
BILL
To

Criminalize Theft and Define Civil Larceny​

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:

1 — Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the "Theft Criminalization Act".
(2) This Act shall take effect immediately upon signage.
(3) This act is authored by Speaker Multiman155.
(4) This act is sponsored by Speaker Multiman155 and co-sponsored by Rep. Scassany

2 — Reasons
(1) To define theft, related penalties, and related terms
(2) To protect private chestshops against circumvention of access controls that are not ordinary “use” of a shop.
(3) To amend the Criminal Code Act.
(4) To amend the Criminal Terminology Act.
(5) To amend the Wilderness Laws Clarification 3.0 Act.
(6) To amend the A Cool Government Property Return Act
(7) To create the civil tort of Larceny.

3 - Amendments to the Criminal Terminology Act

(1) The Criminal Terminology Act is hereby amended by appending the following:

9 - Theft and property crime-related definitions​

​

(1) For purposes of Part VIII of the Criminal Code Act, the following definitions shall apply:​

(a) "Chestshop" means a shop implemented through the server’s chestshop system that enables buying/selling via signs and a linked container (its "backing container").​

(b) "Private chestshop" means a chestshop whose backing container is not physically accessible to the general public because it is behind a locked barrier (e.g., a locked door) or otherwise enclosed.​

(c) "Bypassing an access control" includes exploiting game or plugin mechanics to interact with a shop or its stock through a barrier (e.g., locked doors, panes, hitboxes), or otherwise defeating the owner’s intended restriction (such as through the use of lockpicks).​

(d) "Container" means any in-world storage block (including, without limitation, chests, barrels, shulker boxes when placed, hoppers with container inventories).​

(e) "Locked" means a block or door protected by the server’s block-protection system (e.g., /bolt lock) so that only authorized persons may access it. Unlocked is its opposite.​

(f) "Lockpicking" means any method of bypassing a locked barrier without authorization, including glitching, abusing mechanics, or using the lockpick item/lockpicking mechanic, to gain access where access would otherwise be denied. ​

(g) "Value" means the fair market value in Redmont at the time of the offence, which may be proven by chestshop prices, invoices, NPC payouts, CPI data, expert testimony, or other evidence.​

4 - Amendments to the Criminal Code Act
(1) The Criminal Code Act is hereby amended by adding the following text to the bottom of PART VIII: PROPERTY OFFENCES within the criminal code:

24 – Theft​

Offence Type: Summary​

Penalty: 10 Penalty Units and 10 minutes imprisonment; Restitution of the property or its value.​

A person or legal entity commits an offence if that person or legal entity:​

(a) takes property belonging to another without consent; and​

(b) intends to: ​

(i) permanently deprive the owner of it; or ​

(ii) use it without authorization.​

Exceptions:​

(c) This offense shall not occur in cases where:​

(i) The taker reasonably believed they had the owner’s consent; or​

(ii) The property was abandoned; or​

(iii) The taking of property was otherwise authorized by law.​

Relevant Law:​

​

25 – Theft from Containers​

Offence Type: Summary​

Penalty:​

(a) First offence — 10 Penalty Units; 10 minutes’ imprisonment; Restitution of the property or its value;​

(b) Second offence — 15 Penalty Units; 15 minutes’ imprisonment; Restitution of the property or its value;​

(c) Subsequent offences — 20 Penalty Units; 20 minutes’ imprisonment; Restitution of the property or its value.​

A person commits an offence if the person:​

(d) takes an item directly from a container they do not own or control, without the owner’s consent.​

Exceptions:​

(e) This offense shall not occur in cases where:​

(i) The taker reasonably believed they had the owner’s consent, or​

(ii) The taking of property was otherwise authorized by law.​

Relevant Law:​

​

26 – Interference with a Private Chestshop​

Offence Type: Indictable​

Penalty: Up to 50 Penalty Units; up to 30 minutes imprisonment, in addition to mandatory restitution of the item(s) or their value.​

A person commits an offence if the person:​

(a) obtains, attempts to obtain, or enables another to obtain items or money from a private chestshop without the owner’s consent by lockpicking (as defined in the Criminal Terminology Act); or​

(b) accesses an employee-only chestshop or a chestshop configured with non-public pricing or access (e.g., $0 purchase price or whitelist/employee access) by:​

(i) Entering through a locked door or restricted area without permission; or​

(ii) Circumventing access controls and/or lockpicking; or​

(c) directly obtaining items from a private chestshop’s backing container without the use of legitimate chestshop transactions and without consent of that chestshop’s owner.​

Exceptions:​

(d) This offense shall not occur in cases where:​

(i) The taker reasonably believed they had the owner’s consent, or​

(ii) The taking of property was otherwise authorized by law.​

​

Relevant Law: ​

​

27 – Aggravated Theft​

Offence Type: Indictable​

Penalty: Up to 100 Penalty Units and 60 minutes imprisonment, in addition to mandatory restitution of the item(s) or their value.​

A person commits an offence if the person:​

(a) commits Theft, Theft from Containers, or Interference with a Private Chestshop, and one or more of the following aggravating circumstances apply:​

(i) the value of the property is greater than that of 50 Penalty Units; or​

(ii) the theft is from government property; or​

(iii) the theft is committed while trespassing or enabled by lockpicking; or​

(iv) the theft targets a business inventory or causes substantial economic disruption.​

​

Relevant Law:​

​

28 – Extortion​

Offence Type: Indictable​

Penalty: Up to 500 Penalty Units and 120 minutes imprisonment, in addition to mandatory restitution of the item(s) or their value.​

A person or legal entity commits an offence if that person or legal entity (the “actor”):​

(a) compels or induces another individual or entity to deliver funds or other property to the actor’s self or to a third person by means of instilling in that individual or entity a fear that, if the property is not so delivered, the actor or another will:​

(i) Cause physical injury to some person in the future; or​

(ii) Cause damage to property; or​

(iii) Engage in other conduct constituting an offense under the Criminal Code Act; or​

(iv) Accuse some person of a crime or cause criminal charges to be instituted against that person; or​

(v) Expose a secret or publicize an asserted fact, whether true or false, tending to subject some person to hatred, contempt or ridicule; or​

(vi) Cause a collective labor action, such as a strike, that is injurious to some person’s business or some government agency; except that such a threat shall not be deemed extortion when the property is demanded or received for the benefit of the group in whose interest the actor purports to act; or​

(vii) Testify or provide information, or withhold testimony or information, with respect to another's legal claim or defense; or​

(viii) Use or abuse actor’s position as a public servant by performing some act within or related to the actor's official duties, or by failing or refusing to perform an official duty, in such manner as to affect some person adversely; or​

(ix) Perform any other act which would not in itself materially benefit the actor but which is calculated to harm another person materially with respect to such other person's health, safety, business, calling, career, financial condition, reputation, or personal relationships; ​

Exceptions:​

(b) This offense shall not occur in cases where:​

(i) The funds or property sought by the actor are the lawful funds or property of the actor, and the offense would otherwise occur under clause (a)(iv-vii); or​

(ii) The actor is a lawyer representing an individual or legal entity seeking funds or property lawfully owed to that individual or legal entity, and the offense would otherwise occur under clause (a)(iv-vii).​

​

Relevant Law:​

​

29) Commercial Bribery​

Offence Type: Indictable​

Penalty: Up to 100 Penalty Units or the value of the bribe offered (whichever is greater) and up to 60 minutes imprisonment in addition to mandatory disgorgement.​

A person commits an offence if the person:​

(a) offers, gives, solicits, or receives an item or service of value to induce an employee/agent to breach a duty to their employer, client, or anyone to whom they may owe a fiduciary duty.​

5 - Amendments to the Wilderness Laws Clarification 3.0 Act
(1) Section 4 of the Wilderness Laws Clarification 3.0 Act is hereby amended as follows:

4 - Clarification of Laws​

(1) The following laws apply in the wilderness on claimed regions only.​

(a) Animal MurderUnlawful Killing of Protected Entity​

(b) Animal Theft​

(c) Pet Overcrowding; Animal Overcrowding​

(d) Villager MurderUnlawful Killing of Protected Villager​

(e) All laws regarding wilderness bases/claims hereby apply to the wilderness.​

(2) The following laws do not apply anywhere in the wilderness:​

(a) Murder; Attempted Murder; Assault; Serial KillingMass Murder​

(b) Kidnapping; Hostage HoldingDeprivation of Liberty​

(c) Buffing; Illicit Substance Possession; Illicit Substance Trafficking​

(d) Illicit Arms TraffickingIllicit Weapon Offences; Weapon of Mass Destruction Possession; Weapon of Mass Destruction Trafficking​

(e) Harassment, Alarm, or DistressDisturbing the Peace; Violent Disorder​

(f) Illegal LockingUnlawful Restraint of Property​

(g) Trespass​

(h) Theft; Theft from Containers; Interference with a Private Chestshop; Aggravated Theft​

(3) Any/all laws not listed in this act hereby apply anywhere in the wilderness.​

6 - Amendments to the A Cool Government Property Return Act
(1) Section 3 of the Wilderness Laws Clarification 3.0 Act is hereby amended as follows:

3 - Terms​

(1) Everything given out by a government department is assumed to be required to be returned in a timely manner unless it is specified as something they can keep.​

a. The department can set a specific time for return such as upon employee termination from the department, after a number of days, after an event, etc.​

(2) A Sergeant or higher rank in the Department of Justice may request logs from staff regarding the item without requesting a warrant, and the found item(s) will be returned to the respective government department immediately.​

a. Any profits made due to selling the item to another player are to be returned immediately via fining and unfining.​

b. A player who is found to be in possession of an item from a government department, who should not be in possession of it (i.e. non police officer with handcuffs or a taser or a non paramedic with an ambulance) will have the item returned to the government.​

i. This player who is found in possession must have had reasonable suspicion for investigation, such as a person stating they have a particular item, an item having been tracked from someone who was formerly in possession, etc.​

(3) An individual who fails to return an item within 24 hours of the set time is subject to the following punishment:​

Failure to Return Government Property:​

First Offence: $100 fine​

Second Offence: $250 fine​

Third and Subsequent Offences: $1000 fine​

(2) In the event that the Wilderness Laws Clarification 3.0 Act is repealed prior to this bill's coming into effect, Section 6(1) herein shall have no effect.

7 - Larceny (Civil Tort)
(1) “Larceny” shall be a civil tort. The tort of Larceny may only arise from actions in the Reveille Isles (as defined in Section 4(2) of the National Borders Act) and its surrounding waters; it may not arise from actions in the End, Nether, wild, nor everwild.

(2) A person or legal entity (the “actor”) commits Larceny when, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to that actor or to a third party, the actor wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property from an owner thereof.

(3) Larceny includes a wrongful taking, obtaining or withholding of another's property, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to the actor’s self or to a third person, committed in any of the following ways:
(a) By stealing property that rightfully belongs to another with the intent of permanently depriving the rightful owner of that property; permanently depriving the owner of their personal property by using deception, lies, or by making false statements; embezzlement; or obtaining property by false pretenses; or
(b) By knowingly acquiring lost property;
(i) An actor knowingly acquires lost property when that actor exercises control over property of another which the actor knows to have been accidentally lost, or to have been delivered under a mistake as to the identity of the recipient or the nature or amount of the property, without taking reasonable measures to return such property to the owner;
(c) By false promise;
(i) An actor obtains property by false promise when, pursuant to a scheme to defraud, that actor obtains property of another by means of a representation, express or implied, that the actor or a third party will in the future engage in particular conduct, and when the actor does not intend to engage in such conduct (or, as the case may be, does not believe that the third party intends to engage in such conduct).
(ii) In any civil claim for Larceny based upon a false promise, the defendant's intention or belief that the promise would not be performed may not be established by or inferred from the fact alone that such promise was not performed. Such a finding may be based only upon evidence establishing that the facts and circumstances of the case are wholly consistent with guilty intent or belief and wholly inconsistent with innocent intent or belief, and excluding to a moral certainty every hypothesis except that of the defendant's intention or belief that the promise would not be performed; or
(e) By extortion.

(4) An actor who commits the tort of Larceny shall be liable for treble damages and shall be made to pay restitution in full.

 

[girlfailcoded]

Aye. Given recent actions by certain bad actors, the addition of these criminal offenses is not only desirable, but incredibly important.