What happens if one conjoined twin commits a crime but the other is innocent

A number of conjoined twins have been very open and vocal about some of the things they've gone through in life in the hopes of satisfying people's curiosity.

Take for example twins Abby and Brittany Hensel, who work as teachers and during their own school days had to study separately to avoid them copying each other's work.

When they travel they need two passports but only one ticket as they're only taking one spot on a plane, while when learning to drive they both needed to pass the written and practical parts of the test as the sisters co-ordinate.

With their level of coordination they can play the piano, go bowling, swim and play volleyball together.

People have plenty of questions about what life is like for conjoined twins, though sometimes the questions take a more macabre turn as some have wanted to know what would happen to a conjoined twin if the other dies.

The law doesn't seem to be built to handle this question. (Getty Stock Image)

However, the question plenty really wanted to know is what would happen to conjoined twins if one committed a crime but the other was innocent.

You can't stick one of them in prison without punishing the other so it seems like a bit of a quandary.

The question even ended up being The Explainer's question of the year in 2009, though it struggled to provide much of an answer.

Considering that there aren't many conjoined twins around by extension there aren't many conjoined twin criminals either, which makes seeking examples and precedents pretty tricky.

When The Explainer tried to, well... explain this one its answer was pretty much that nobody knows as recorded conjoined twins have tended to be 'exemplary citizens'.

Conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker were arrested but not prosecuted, and we don't know whether they'd really have been able to be punished. (History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

It did cite the example of famous conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker, who were arrested over a fight with a doctor but never prosecuted.

Meanwhile, the brothers each married different women but were never charged with bigamy so it would appear as though in the eyes of the law they were very much two different people.

The Explainer noted that prison would be difficult as you'd be imprisoning an innocent party, while issuing fines would likely harm both people.

That's all before getting into how much of an accomplice a conjoined twin might be.

Ultimately it couldn't really answer this question, and in the interest of societal peace and harmony we hope there's never really a situation where we need to find a concrete answer to this one.

Topics: Crime, Health

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker