Harry Potter: 10 Things Voldemort Would Have Been Arrested For In The Muggle World
Fans are only a few short months away from Fantastic Beasts and The Secrets of Dumbledore, where Gellert Grindelwald will attempt to take control of the wizarding world. It seems old habits die hard with villains in the Harry Potter franchise as this was also the goal of 'he who must not be named'.
In the books, some people within the muggle world such as the British Prime Minister speak with Cornelius Fudge and it is made clear that there is a shared knowledge of the magical world. However, in the movies, there are far fewer instances where magic and muggles coincide, such as Hermione saying that even her parents who are muggles know something is going on, as well as the Death Eaters attacking the London bridge in the seventh film. Given how many crimes Voldemort has committed over the course of the eight movies, if the muggles were aware, he would be served a sentence even he couldn't outlive.
10 Destruction Of Property
If fans had a Galleon for each time 'he who must not be named' destroyed a piece of property, they would be as rich as Harry when he was shown his vault in Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. Voldemort successfully destroyed the Potter's home when he went to kill Harry as a baby and fans shouldn't forget the damage he did to Hogwart's in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2.
Avid fans will know that Dumbeldore placed a Fidelius charm on the Potter's home meaning that muggles would not see it. This explains why Voldemort's attack on the house was unnoticed by other muggles around. Of course, Hogwarts would also be hidden from muggles, leaving Voldemort to get away with more property damage on even a small scale.
9 Murder
Not just the murder of James and Lily Potter, Voldemort racked up a serious body count - including Charity Burbage (the teacher of Muggle Studies), the caretaker of the old Riddle home, essentially anyone who got in his way, and eventually, Harry himself (sort of).
Murder is not only seen as one of the worst crimes of the muggle world, but also the wizarding world. However, given Voldemort's status, it's unlikely that any authorities, wizard or not, would challenge him. Also, the murders that Voldemort committed were only done so when he was either alone or accompanied by his followers, who would not dare turn him in for his crimes.
8 Torture
The Cruciatus Curse is known to be one of the vilest curses known to the wizarding world. Voldemort has been known to use the Cruciatus Curse on many occasions throughout both the books and the movies, the most obvious to fans likely being on Harry towards the end of the fourth film (after the murder of Cedric Diggory).
It's also known that he has used the curse on many occasions that were not shown on screen. Similar to his murders, Voldemort mainly tortured individuals while alone or in the presence of Death Eaters, leaving only a few who would be able to provide hard evidence of this. Even Mad-Eye Moody, when explaining the curses to the students, described these curses as 'unforgivable', also suggesting that Voldemort's use of it would be served with a large punishment.
7 Attempted Murder
Even though Voldemort has murdered countless characters throughout the franchise, there were a few who just managed to escape with their lives. Even though Voldemort managed to kill Harry in the final movie (only for him to be resurrected - which would also potentially count as another round of attempted murder), Voldemort also attempted to kill Harry when he was a baby.
Another of Voldemort's attempted murder victims include Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince during their duel in the Ministry of Magic. Attempted murder is likely Voldemort's most commonly committed crime.
6 Arson
Fans certainly saw a fire blazing at the Potter's home in Godric's Hollow the night Harry was killed and it could also be argued that Voldemort was a major player in the fire that raged throughout Hogwarts in the final film.
During Voldemort's duel with Dumbledore in the fifth film, Voldemort also produced a snake made of fire from his breath, although this didn't directly set fire to anything, it would also likely be classed as at least attempted arson. Given that the only evidence of the fire snake was the ash that was lying on the ground, no one aside from Dumbledore and Harry saw the fire being conjured. Also, none of the members of the Ministry believed that Voldemort had even returned until they saw him disappear shortly after this duel.
5 Conspiracy
Conspiracy is usually seen as the act of planning between two or more people to commit a crime in the future. Voldemort's plan to kill Harry began when he was a baby, and long before he started at Hogwarts. Therefore Voldemort could be put away for some time just for the plan alone.
Throughout the movies, Voldemort conspired many times to kill Harry, Dumbeldore and other muggles, take over the world and commit numerous other illegal acts. Even if Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters, carried out every one of his crimes for him, there would be little denying that Voldemort had a hand in the planning of these crimes as well.
4 Breaking And Entering
Breaking and entering is one crime that numerous characters could be convicted of, and although the focus was on Voldemort killing Lily and James Potter in the first movie, Voldemort had to first break into the Potter's house to get to them. As mentioned earlier, the Potter's home was protected, leaving no witnesses to Voldermort's crime.
Even though fans can be quick to judge Voldemort for breaking and entering into the Potter's home, amongst likely many other places throughout the eight movies, keep in mind that every other wizard that has used the Alohamora spell, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the first movie, could also be arrested for this.
3 Graverobbing
The scene that left fans clinging to the edge of their seats at the end of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows part 1 involved Voldemort taking the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's grave.
Any muggle committing this crime would likely face around 20 years in prison, however, given that the object in question was the most powerful wand in existence, this would likely provide Voldemort with a long jail sentence.
2 Hate Crimes
It was no secret that Voldemort, and many other despised characters in the franchise such as Draco and Lucius Malfoy, hated muggles.
Many of Voldemort's evil acts could be construed as hate crimes. In the penultimate movie, Voldemort tortures Charity Burbage, a teacher of Muggle studies, and vocalizes the fact that he is repulsed by the idea that wizards and muggles aren't so different, and the idea of them being in a relationship. Other characters, such as the Malfoys, vocalized their hatred for muggles, but there were only a few who planned to go through with killing them in large numbers.
1 Kidnapping
As shown in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1, Harry, Ron and Hermione ended up in a dungeon within Malfoy Manor along with Ollivander and Luna Lovegood. There's no doubt that kidnapping another person, especially to keep them in a dungeon, would be seen as a crime in even the wizarding world.
It was unclear in the movies whether Voldemort kidnapped them himself. Death Eaters were the ones who kidnapped Luna Lovegood in the seventh film and likely did most of the work. Capturing Voldemort or his followers would prove difficult as they can transform into black smoke and fly away at a moment's notice. However, as Voldemort was the orchestrator in the operation, it's likely that he would serve as much jail time as his followers if caught.