It has been hard researching the statistics of violence as you have hoaxes and false reporting. I have found several deaths related to April Fool's day. A woman told her boyfriend that she was pregnant and he did not take the news good. He accused her of having an affair and they got in a big fight and she ended up taking a knife to him. Another story was a man poising a roommate to death. The compound was only supposed to make him sick but instead it attacked his kidneys and liver and he died. The man said it was only an accident but he was found guilty of murder.
Other stories are about people getting hurt because of the jokes. You should never scare anyone who has a heart condition. From personal experience I have heard 4 stories of people dying from heart attacks after a joke. People have also fallen because of jokes and gotten hurt. People have jumped out to scare someone only for the victim to seriously hurt the person because of a reflex.
People think the TV show Scare Tactics and other shows are just too funny but they don't really know the damage that those shows cause. There is conflicting information on if the show was fixed or not. But I did read several articles about the mental anguish of the victims. On tape they laughed it off but later on they stated that they began to suffer from PTS that was caused by the prank. There were several articles about several actors that got hurt when the intended victim reacted and against them. With the mental anguish that many people suffer from today, these kind of pranks can be deadly. 
People have been fired for practical jokes. One woman was hired and realized that she was working the practical jokers and she went to HR and told them that she would NOT have jokes played on her. That she did not like being scared and she was not going to clean up after someone jokes either. She demanded that they talk to everyone. Due to the fact that this was a new job and she could not take April Fool's Day off, so she had to work it. Two days before she reminded her supervisor that she did not want a joke played on her. Well as you can tell that someone thought it would be a great to play a joke on her. They changed her lights so that they would strobe and replaced her phone with one that was glued. The woman was an epileptic and the lights started to put her into a seizer. She tried to call 911 but the phone was glued and she fell down and had a major seizer. The guys thought she was faking it and all they did was watch her as she lost control of her body. They even recorded the incident as they laughed away. One of the other workers came to see what was so funny and realized that she was not faking it and he called 911. The woman survived but she is now severely disabled and will never have the pleasure to run and play with her children and grandchildren. All because of a joke. I was hired to replace her when they sent her to the hospital. I never met her but I do remember the police coming in to take statements that week. I can tell you that her family did not laugh at the joke. 
Let us not forget about the changing of food and liquid items. People going to the hospital because of an allergic reaction. The one I remember the most was when they put alcohol in the water pitcher. A man who was a 16 years sober had the hiccups and drank the "water" fast. That was the start of the end for him. After that incident he fell off the wagon several times and ended up losing his family, job and everything. But hey someone thought it was funny. What about the property damage that is caused every year. How many personal items have to be replaced or repaired because of a joke? What about the mess and the person who has to clean up. Why should an innocent person have to clean up someone else's joke? It is not a joke when it cost the victim money that they do not have. It is not fair to force someone to spend money because someone else thought it would be funny.
Then you have the "lottery" joke that can and have cost people lots of money. You can buy fake lottery tickets or other sweepstakes giveaways. You would not believe what people do and say when they think that they have won millions. They tell off their bosses and in one instance someone peed on someone's car. So the question is, should people be held responsible for their action because they thought at the time they won? People have lost their jobs for what they said. When you play a practical joke on someone, you really need to know them well enough. I tell everyone not to scare me, so if someone scares me, should I have the right to have them charged with assault? I am also very verbal about the fact that I am allergic to everything. I can't eat Pizza Hut pizza as I am allergic to the "secret ingredient." So if they know that I am allergic and they allow me to eat or drink something that will make me sick, can I have them charged with attempted murder?
So like my mother said, "it is only funny if both people are laughing." There are several jokes that you can play that are funny, it just takes some thought. Just remember who you are playing the joke on. Not everyone can take a joke. Once a month we have a family game night, lately we have been playing "Cards against Humanity." This card game is great fun if you have the right sense of humor. My Aunt and several members of my family would not be able to play this game as they take jokes way too seriously. We have great fun in playing the game, but it is the most racist, bigoted and vile game ever and I am going to hell for playing it. But I have the sense of humor to play it and we have a blast playing it. So know what kind of sense of humor they have. You would not want to play a dead baby joke on a woman who has lost a child or had a miscarriage. So like I said know your victim and know what kind of sense of humor they have.
I hope this will give you some light on this topic. This is a holiday that I hate because of the dirty jokes that have been played on me. I am short and I do not like heights so putting my stuff on the top shelf is not funny. I have mysophobic, fear of germs, so licking me and touching me is not funny. You think that praying on someone's fear is funny but it is not. It only makes people worse and can set them off. Many people are pushed over the edge and commit suicide. So I cannot repeat it enough times, know who you are pranking and what they think is funny. It is all about what they think is funny and not you. I hope this helps you. So have some fun and remember it is only funny if both of you are laughing. 
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