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Can You Be Charged for Knowing About a Crime and Not Saying Anything? (self.legaladviceofftopic)

submitted by jonnyp500

If you witness a crime, are you obligated to report it to the police? What if you are aware that a crime is going to be committed, but you do nothing to prevent it from occurring? Can you be criminally charged if you do nothing at all?

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[–]duendaorglenda 12 points13 points  (1 child)

Certain people are mandated reporters of child abuse. If you see that and are a mandated reporter, keeping silent could get you charged.

[–]Deekifreeki 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Correct. I’m a teacher and not reporting child abuse is a crime for me in CA. We get trained on this yearly. I believe it also applies to police, medical professionals, firefighters and social workers.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (4 children)

It depends on jurisdiction and a number of factors. However, let’s look at Federal Law:

Federal law prohibits concealing information about specific crimes. Under 18 United States Code, Section 4, you may be obligated to report a crime if you are directly asked during a criminal investigation whenever:

You have knowledge of the commission of a felony; The felony actually occurred; and The felony is a federal offense;

If you willfully conceal the commission of a felony federal offense, you can be charged with “misprision of a felony.” Misprision of a felony is a form of obstruction of justice. If you are convicted, you face up to a $250,000 fine, imprisonment up to three years, or both fine and imprisonment.

[–]Admirable-Future-942 8 points9 points  (1 child)

Just pointing out that even under 18 U.S.C. 4, courts have held that you need to be actively concealing thr crime, not just failing to report it. See United States v. Johnson 546 F.2d 1225, 1227 (5th Cir. 1977)

[–]monty845 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Likewise, you may not have any obligation to tell the feds were the fugitive they are looking for is, but if you respond to their questions by lying or being deceptive, you can be in for a world of legal pain.

The other thing to watch out for is any type of aiding or abetting after the fact. You may not be obligated to report where a fugitive is, but if you do anything to aid them, even otherwise legal acts, after you know they are a fugitive, they may be able to get you for it.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are judges allowed to go over the sentences that the legislature sets? If so, would that be legislating from the bench?

[–]Far-Understanding715 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's seems there are people in the news that were involved in the insurrection of January 6th that would be guilty of this crime. But I guess if your a congress person or the wife of a supreme court judge, or even a sitting president you have nothing to worry about.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There is failure to report a felony law. Here is Ohio's statute.

https://law.justia.com/codes/ohio/2006/orc/jd_292122-667.html#:~:text=%C2%A7%202921.22.,information%20to%20law%20enforcement%20authorities.

Prosecutions for this, or related statutes in other states are very rare. One common usage is in bribery or civil corruption cases where the state attorney can't prove that specific charge but can prove a coverup or knowledge of something felonious.

Eddie Debartolo Jr was convicted of failure to report a felony in 1998. He received a pardon from president Trump.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_J._DeBartolo_Jr.

I know of one case of an Ohio prosecutor using the failure to report a felony statute outside of these circumstances. The jury acquitted however.

https://fraternallaw.com/newsletter2/dean-acquitted-for-failure-to-report-a-felony#:~:text=Ohio%2C%20like%20many%20other%20states,that%20in%20a%20timely%20fashion.

So to your answer your question. Theoretically yes in the state of Ohio. But it would be some really weird scenario to result in you actually being charged.

[–]engineered_academic 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Generally you have no duty to report a crime. There are exceptions depending on your profession.

This is all assuming that you are not involved or associated with the crime you have knowledge of.

[–]originalhoney 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I read this post bc the question brought up a memory. My mother was robbed at gunpoint sometime when I was in elementary school (she worked late nights/early mornings at a gas station, until this happened). Of course, she called the police. They arrested the robber. Mother testified at the trial, so he knew who she was. He was sentenced.

I'm not sure how long he was incarcerated, if at all, but he returned to her store once released or whatever. He knew where she worked and who she was. She told me that her heart stopped and she just knew she was going to die. He came up to the counter, introduced himself, and then thanked her for what she did. It helped him become a better person.

She was no saint and broke the law herself by "paying herself in advance from the daily money drop" and "paying it back on payday." But I'm pretty sure this is why she never turned in someone who she realized was stealing. One of her friends and coworkers was stealing hundreds of dollars of merchandise a week! For weeks! And she didn't say anything, even though it turned out this idiot was doing it in view of the cameras.

I think about this a lot when considering what I would do if I witnessed a crime that wasn't murder or rape or something similarly egregious. The fact that he knew her face, name, and place of employment (and her address, since he stole her purse as well with her DL in it)? Fuck. Idk what I'd do. Things could have turned out so much worse.

Sorry for the word vomit, this memory came to mind when I saw the title and then slammed into me when I read your comment, bc personally I don't know what I would do.

[–]Blood_Oleander 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on what the crime and statute (how long you've known) is. There is a such thing called being an "accessory after the fact", where you knew about a crime (usually murder) and the one who did it but didn't alert the authorities.

In other cases, as people have stated, in the case of mandated reporters, they can face charges, depending on the state.