Kasidy Yates did nothing illegal

[DonIago]

Petty crimes are a possibility, but with little reason to steal it would have to be someone with kleptomania. That or other physical or mental issues are also unlikely because Chakotay is choosing these people to be members of his crew, so he's not going to pick anyone who is a liability.

Given that Voyager was supposed to have some resource constraints (replicator rations perhaps being the most notable example), theft doesn't seem all that improbable amongst the morally compromised.

I also think the Maquis may have been far more willing to embrace people who may have had physical or mental challenges than Starfleet. Chakotay didn't necessarily have the luxury of turning people down in hopes of getting the best of the best.

 

[UssGlenn]

I also think the Maquis may have been far more willing to embrace people who may have had physical or mental challenges than Starfleet. Chakotay didn't necessarily have the luxury of turning people down in hopes of getting the best of the best

I think just the opposite. The Maquis are still a military resistance. If anything they would be less egalitarian than Starfleet. They have to make hard decisions about the best and most effective use of resources.

 

[kkt]

I'm still a little bothered by the implication that Janeway effectively conscripted the Maquis, and presumably would have done the same to the Borg children and Naomi Wildman. Presumably on Voyager there are no free rides?

Which is to say that the show took the easy way out and depicted everyone who wasn't Starfleet as being willing and able to serve, but I don't think that's how life works.

Janeway was apparently willing to lock up Suder in a cabin for, presumably, the rest of his life, but what would she have done if it turned out some of the Maquis were ill-suited to be Starfleet because of mental illness or other issues, or were causing problems but not on the level of violent crimes? She can't exactly confine everyone to quarters, and while offering to off-load anyone who doesn't seem happy on the ship seems like a humane option, it seems rather less humane when Voyager is in the middle of Kazon or Vidiian or Borg space.

I'm not saying there was a good option; just that it bothers me a little that the show didn't even take a moment to ponder the question.

If I remember right (and I freely admit it's quite a few years since I watched Voyager) the Maquis crew didn't have much of a choice. Their ship was in even worse shape than Voyager and they'd be lucky to find an inhabitable planet to crashland on, let alone making it back to the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager was also short of crew, and many of the the Maquis had Starfleet training which would be an asset rather than the constant liability that it would be to try to keep them under arrest for years on end. Janeway could have ditched them, but that would be inhumane, and she did have orders to bring the Maquis back to the Federation for trial.

 

[Farscape One]

I think just the opposite. The Maquis are still a military resistance. If anything they would be less egalitarian than Starfleet. They have to make hard decisions about the best and most effective use of resources.

In "MELD", Torres and Chakotay made it a point to say that they took on whoever they could because they didn't have a great deal of people to begin with. (In the ready room, when Torres says Suder was the one on duty at the time he killed Darwin in engineering. Chakotay didn't mention his instinct during his initial crew evaluation of the Maquis because he didn't want to make it harder for them than necessary to adjust to the ship.)

If I remember right (and I freely admit it's quite a few years since I watched Voyager) the Maquis crew didn't have much of a choice. Their ship was in even worse shape than Voyager and they'd be lucky to find an inhabitable planet to crashland on, let alone making it back to the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager was also short of crew, and many of the the Maquis had Starfleet training which would be an asset rather than the constant liability that it would be to try to keep them under arrest for years on end. Janeway could have ditched them, but that would be inhumane, and she did have orders to bring the Maquis back to the Federation for trial.

The Maquis ship was destroyed in the pilot. (Chakotay rammed it into the large Kazon ship.)

 

[Guy Gardener]

If I remember right (and I freely admit it's quite a few years since I watched Voyager) the Maquis crew didn't have much of a choice. Their ship was in even worse shape than Voyager and they'd be lucky to find an inhabitable planet to crashland on, let alone making it back to the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager was also short of crew, and many of the the Maquis had Starfleet training which would be an asset rather than the constant liability that it would be to try to keep them under arrest for years on end. Janeway could have ditched them, but that would be inhumane, and she did have orders to bring the Maquis back to the Federation for trial.

Chakotay rammed his ship, The Val Jean, into Caretakers Array.

It's Stardust.

20 Maquis in a shuttle or Neeelix's ship, the Baxial, could easily take the Kazon mining colony on Ocampa, then a couple Kazon city ships, and either build an empire or figure out how to fabricate some new engines that can get them home in less than one life time.

 

[Paul Weaver]

Suder was a murderer.

Neelix and Kes weren’t starfleet. If a marquis who otherwise wasn’t a security risk
I’m sure they would have been allowed to do whatever. Maybe limited access to secure areas, limited access to resources like quarters, holodeck etc, but on the whole it would have been ok.

They’d have been bored out of their skulls. I’d have liked to have seen a few examples though. The Enterprise had families on board.

Ultimately though I suspect regulations allow and expect anyone on a starship to be conscriptable for the good of the ship. They could have got off whenever - explicitly shown in The 37s, but with the exception of Seska that didn’t happen.

 

[DonIago]

Suder was a murderer.

Neelix and Kes weren’t starfleet. If a marquis who otherwise wasn’t a security risk
I’m sure they would have been allowed to do whatever. Maybe limited access to secure areas, limited access to resources like quarters, holodeck etc, but on the whole it would have been ok.

They’d have been bored out of their skulls. I’d have liked to have seen a few examples though. The Enterprise had families on board.

Ultimately though I suspect regulations allow and expect anyone on a starship to be conscriptable for the good of the ship. They could have got off whenever - explicitly shown in The 37s, but with the exception of Seska that didn’t happen.

This isn't the sense I've gotten from watching the show. It seemed as though if you weren't willing to wear the uniform (Neelix and Kes notwithstanding) then there wasn't a place for you.

 

[kkt]

Suder was a murderer.

Neelix and Kes weren’t starfleet. If a marquis who otherwise wasn’t a security risk
I’m sure they would have been allowed to do whatever. Maybe limited access to secure areas, limited access to resources like quarters, holodeck etc, but on the whole it would have been ok.

They’d have been bored out of their skulls. I’d have liked to have seen a few examples though. The Enterprise had families on board.

Ultimately though I suspect regulations allow and expect anyone on a starship to be conscriptable for the good of the ship. They could have got off whenever - explicitly shown in The 37s, but with the exception of Seska that didn’t happen.

Voyager wasn't a Galaxy class. Voyager was made for short missions, not multiyear, and not having lots of extra quarters was part of that.

I still don't think they were conscripted. Joining Voyager was the best option for the Maquis on board. Janeway probably had the authority to grant them commissions, or reinstate the commissions of those who had been in Starfleet.