posted on Jul, 18 2008 @ 11:38 AM
I have been mulling over this question since you posted the thread.
There are fuzzy gray areas.
It depends so much on every detail of the situation, and who is involved and why.
A yes or no answer is difficult.
Truthfully, look at your friends and family. Do you think any of them are capable of breaking a law?
A major crime, such as murder, or rape definitely deserves to be reported.
To some, petty theft, or vandalism, is a small crime. To me it's not.
If a friend or relative came to me and confided in me that they had committed a crime, of course at first they are going to get the "WTF were you
thinking speech".
But, depending on what the case is, I would want them to own up and take responsibility. Depending on the crime itself, especially a more serious one,
by sharing info with me, Iam obligated to tell the police or Iam an accessory.
A fuzzy gray area for me, would perhaps be a scenario like this..
A friend of yours throws a cigarette on the ground near a business. The building sets on fire, and is completely destroyed. No one is physically hurt,
but the business owner has lost everything.
Should the person own up to what they did?
Your teenager borrows your car to go out with friends one night. He has too much to drink, but drives anyway. Due to being intoxicated, he swerves
over to the wrong side of the road. This causes a car in the opposite direction to swerve, lose control, and flip over in the ditch, killing the
driver in the process.
Your child, seeing there were no witnesses, drives on, leaving the scene.
But having a guilty conscience later, tells only you what he did.
Do you go to the police, knowing your child will go to jail and ruin his future?
A friend of yours, unemployed, down on his luck, frequently goes into stores and steals because he cannot afford to buy things. Do you let him away
with it, justifying that the store makes lots of money and it does no harm?
I could play out many scenarios here.
A better question just might be..if a crime was committed, would your friends or family try to implicate YOU.