# Siamese Twins and the Law
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins-and-the-law/235710
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 22, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins-and-the-law/235710 "2004-03-22T12:11:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DanielBester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanielBester)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins-and-the-law/235710/1 "2004-03-22T12:11:23Z")
This is a bit of a tricky legal question about which I’ve always wondered.
What would happen if one member of a siamese twin pair commited a crime, say something serious like murder? At least something involving jail time as neccessary, not just a finable offense. Say there were many witnesses, even video of the other one trying to stop them.
I know that there have been fictional accounts of this, but those are only speculation. What would the US legal system do about such a case?
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins-and-the-law/235710/2 "2004-03-23T02:01:56Z")
I don’t think this is written into law or has a legal precedant.
I do know that Change and Eng Bunker once appeared before a North Carolina judge for some sort of assault involving one of the two, a pocket knife, and some other individual but I think that was resolved with a fine - although certainly your dilemna was a factor and may have had something to do with it being a fine rather than jail time… Other than that, I’m not aware of conjoined twins getting into legal trouble.
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2004, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins-and-the-law/235710/3 "2004-03-23T02:14:08Z")
Normally, the law operates under the principle that it’s better for a guilty man to go free than for an innocent man to be punished. So I’d think that if there was a manditory sentencing law that left prison as the only option, then they’d have to acquit the guy or else his innocent twin would be sent to jail unjustly.
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### Author:  [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2004, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins-and-the-law/235710/4 "2004-03-23T04:46:13Z")
On the other hand, the prosecution would probably try to make a case that the “innocent” twin was an accomplice or failed to stop the crime. And he’d be a witness…but would the right not to give self-incriminating testimony apply? A Siamese twin could argue that the other twin could never be made to testify against him, because doing so would be an unequal application of the Fifth Amendment (having a Siamese twin who sees everything you do is not a handicap most citizens must endure).
I have a feeling this is the legal equivalent of the “Can God make a hole so big that he cannot jump over it?” question.
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### Author:  [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins-and-the-law/235710/5 "2004-03-23T13:49:53Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#):
>
> On the other hand, the prosecution would probably try to make a case that the “innocent” twin was an accomplice or failed to stop the crime.
Big difference between the two. Being an accomplice to a crime is a crime in itself. Merely failing to prevent one is not in most (all ?) jurisdictions.
Zev Steinhardt
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### Author:  [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins-and-the-law/235710/6 "2004-03-23T14:21:35Z")
> [@Diceman](#):
>
> they’d have to acquit the guy or else his innocent twin would be sent to jail unjustly.
They would convict him. It’s the sentencing part that would be tricky.