For me at least, it would be less about the severity of the crime and more about how much benefit of the doubt I’d be willing to give the person.
If the police came to me and told me a loved one committed murder, I’d be much more inclined to get their side of the story before sharing potentially incriminating evidence with the authorities. If upon confronting said loved one, they said something along the lines of “Yeah, I killed that person. I really needed the money.” I would probably turn them in. If on the other hand they told me a story about how even though it looks bad it was all an accident and are really sorry it came to that, well, my instincts are going to be to trust that story even if an objective onlooker would find it incredulous. And if I think someone doesn’t deserve to be punished for a crime, I’m very unlikely to go out of my way to bring information to the attention of the authorities. If actually forced onto the stand, though, I have a very hard time seeing myself ever actually lying.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Here is my answer. I could care less about recreational drug use. Shoplifting would depend. Everything else…see you when you get out.
There are hypothetical circumstances where certain actions, even murder, can be ethically justified. If my wife killed someone, and I was convinced that the killing although illegal and not legally self-defense was ethically justified I’d keep silent. You’d have to come up with some pretty bullet-proof hypothetical.
If it’s just the old “Don’t you see? I had to kill him! I would have been ruined if he had gone to the papers!” then no, not even my wife gets a pass for murder.
The criminal justice system exists to serve human beings, not the other way around. We have cops and courts and laws to try to make the world a better place and keep conflicts to a minimum. If I don’t believe turning in my loved one would make the world a better place, then I don’t think I’d do it, even if I believed that the broken law was in general a good idea.
If my mother or my sisters murdered someone, I’d help hide the body.
Anyone else? Depends on how much I like you. Anything short of violent crimes, I keep my mouth shut. But if you’re hurting someone (and you are not my mother or sisters), I’m turning you in.
When I was a kid, I would have gone to prison myself before turning them in.
Now … well, if I’m close enough to know s/he committed the crime, I’m probably too close to tell.
For most crimes. Not fraud; murder, assault - those are emotional crimes, and we all lose control of our emotions, not to that degree, of course, but still …
But fraud, that is cold and planned and is lying, which breaks both social and personal contracts. I’d dime out my mother on fraud.
Ok, think about this. What if YOU knew the person was guilty but had no actual proof? Would you want to go thru the trouble of going to the police, having the person arrested, and then they are let go for lack of evidence or get found innocent in court?
My own family? Murder. Nothing less. For the simple reason that if I don’t drop a dime, I might be next.
For a coworker or stranger? If I can pretend I didn’t see it happen, and/or it won’t be my ass on the line, I’m going to keep my mouth shut for any crime without a victim or if it’s just theft. Assault/murder of another person, I can’t let that slide. Even then, the dime drops are going to be anonymous if at all practical : I’m not going to put my name onto a police officer’s notebook if I can avoid it. I’ve read how that can turn out.
I’ve always had a kind of paranoid fear about volunteering information to the authorities some of it having to do with something that happened to some people I knew who tried to do the right thing and got fucked over because of it. Any kind of petty crimes I would never turn anyone in for. If you are a friend I would probably not turn you in if the crime is nonviolent but I’m not going to lie for you or risk my own freedom. Family is a whole different ball game and it depends a lot on exact circumstances. It’s hard for me to imagine my children committing terrible crimes because they are so young. If my son say got into a fight with another man and killed him accidentally but could still face manslaughter charges or something but nobody else knew about it I would not turn him in. I will protect my children from whatever I could, possibly even take the blame for a crime and go to prison in their place. You would really have to start getting into serial killer psychopathic violence before I would consider it.
In an ideal world, any and all infractions, because punishments would exactly fit crimes, and the appropriate authorities could be trusted to apply the law fairly to all.
With the police and prosecutors we have, that would make me a ridiculous busybody.
My husband or children (or children-in-law, grandchildren, sister, mom and dad): I don’t care what they did, I not only wouldn’t turn them in, I would actively help them get away.
Other people: I’ll mind my own business; won’t turn them in, probably won’t help them get away but it depends on the situation.
Shoplifting or minor property crimes-no.
Embezzlement or large property crimes-yes.
Animal abuse-on the phone immediately.
Elder neglect or abuse-ditto.
Illegal gun possession-yes.
Any act of violence beyond a bar fight-yes. That includes sexual abuse.
Child neglect/abuse-whose definition? I’m not going to turn you in if your nine year old kid takes the subway across the city. I’d give the kid a map and compass. I am if I see chronic runny noses and dirty clothes and diapers. I would if I could if you don’t have immunizations up to date. I’m not going to turn you in if you spanked your four year old who ran out into traffic, a six year old who beat up a classmate, or any child over age two who hurt his pet or a younger sibling. I am if you spanked her for not eating her veggies or for flunking a school test.
OK, but suppose you’re in a death penalty jurisdiction, and if you turn in your Mom for murder she could face a lethal injection. Turning her in won’t bring the dead person back to life and might end up killing her. If you’re against killing people–which I think is a very reasonable ethical code–then what next?
I’m certainly no fan of killing people, and almost all of the cases where I’d be willing to shoot someone would certainly be covered under the American legal system as self/other defense. You might feel differently and wouldn’t pull the trigger even to save your own life, which is fine. But my point is that self-defense doesn’t become ethical or unethical just because it’s legal or illegal and that my personal moral code would have to be satisfied before I’d shoot at someone regardless of what the law in my jurisdiction said.
First thing I would consider is their motivation for committing the crime, and their intent. If they commit a crime out of genuine necessity, I think it’s a little easier to forgive. I wouldn’t condone their actions, and I would have a talk with them first. I’d probably offer my own assistance or try to help them find some other means of getting by without committing crimes. If their intent was malicious or they did it because they simply valued themselves over someone else, I think it would be a different story.
As an example of stealing out of necessity, I can imagine a parent with very little money potentially stealing something like a child’s winter coat if they couldn’t afford to buy one legitimately. I’d probably direct them to goodwill or some other financial aid source to help them get by without stealing.
If on the other hand it’s someone who walks into a designer clothing store and just stuffs clothes into their shirt and walks out, I’d probably report them pretty quickly, after having a serious discussion with them.
To me, I think the most important thing is whether I thought the person would be prepared to repeat their crime and if they had feasible alternatives or weren’t committing these crimes in order to provide necessities for themselves or someone close to them.
If for example a person were lost in a snowstorm and found a locked building, I don’t think I would fault them if they broke into the house to avoid freezing to death.
Yes, those are valid reasons for committing a crime. I’ve seen the stereotypical little old lady steal tuna and socks, and did nothing.
I was wondering about a crime like DUI. Most families have a problem drinker. That’s a case where there’s a huge difference between driving home from the neighborhood tap and running over a child. But it’s a situation where you hope they get caught before the latter happens.
I would not turn in anyone for a capital offense in a DP state, I think my anti-DP stance overrides my law-abiding stance in that case. I might attempt a preemptive plea bargain with the authorities for no DP if I turn a murderer in, but I’m not sure that would even work.
I answered the OP as if I was in my own jurisdiction, or any I would ever reasonably find myself residing in (and no DP is a big factor for where I would ever live, right up there with homosexuality being legal and women having equal rights) - if I lived in a different jurisdiction, the slate of crimes for which I might or might not turn in a loved one would vary greatly.
