Let’s say that it is dark outside and you are walking down a lonely road when you witness a hit and run. The driver hauls ass leaving the victim in severe pain and distress on the road. If this person does not get to the hospital, he might die, but you walk home and do nothing, don’t call the cops, hospital, or anything. You witness a crime that you have no invovement but do not help the victim, but the involvement may save that person’s life…
Is this a crime?
As I understand it, in general, no. You are not under any obligation to involve yourself in any way, and depending on your jurisdiction, you may even be legally liable for any assistance you do render. Some places have enacted “Good Samaritan” laws to reduce this legal liability and make bystanders more willing to offer help.
If it happened in the UK I believe you would be breaking the law by failing to report a crime, but you are not under any obligation to render assistance to the person in distress. This is based on a very hazy recollection of a principles of law lecture about a decade and a half ago, so I could be wrong.
What is negligent homcide? It seem like refusing to offer any aid when there is little or no risk to yourself might fall under that.
Of course there’s that whole moral crime thing but I assume we’re nat talking about that.
Only if you had some duty to prevent the accident and/or protect the injured person.
I think that only applies if you are responsible for the original injury. I googled up “depraved indifference to human life” because it might be legally applicable ( it sure would be morally ), but it appears you can be as uncaring as you like, as long as you don’t inflict the original injury.
Just as an Example from a different jurisdiction: In Germany it is and in the scenario that you described you would probably end up in prison unless you had a very good excuse.
I join the consensus – in the States, in general, you are not guilty of a crime, nor are you civilly liable, for failing to render aid to someone so long as 1) you didn’t create or contribute to their danger, and 2) you do not have a special relationship that gives you a duty to assist.
Local law defines who might have such a special relationship; for instance, in some jurisdictions police or EMS personnel might be required to aid anyone the observe needing medical help, so they would have the special relationship with anyone. Wheras more typically, you might have a special relationship with your legal guardian, your (non-emergency) physician, your school principal, etc. These people have an affirmative duty to help you because of your special connection, but not everyone on the planet. And they might only be obliged to help you in certain circumstances connected to the relationship, but not others. This is all going to vary wildly by jurisdiction.
And as noted above, some municipalities may have enacted laws requiring you to render assistance, although I express no opinion as to whether they’d hold up in court.
–Cliffy, Esq.
Agree.
BTW, we’ve done this at least twice before. I’m late for an appointment, but will try to post links later.
Germany also requires first aid training to get a driver’s licence and kits must be kept in cars.
Same in France (except for the “probably endup in prison” part, which is more often what people would want to happen than what actually happens). Not rendering assistance to a person in danger could get you up to 5 (or 7, I’m not sure aymore) years in jail, plus a hefty fine. “Not rendering assistance” would mean not doing anything yourself if you’re able to and there’s no danger involved, or not calling the proper authorities (police, firemen, EMT, etc…) if you’re not able to and/or it involves a risk.
People are well-aware of the existence of this law, and it happens that there are strong popular calls for throwing the book at the perpetrator in high profile cases (for instance, a number of drivers passing by an accident scene and a kid calling for help and ignoring it), whether or not this law actually apply (thugs assault and kill someone in a bus and the passengers don’t lift a finger).
Since it’s the second part of the OP’s scenario, not reporting a crime you have knowledge of is also an offense, so in France the person depicted in it could actually be prosecuted for two different crimes.
In practice, however, the harshest sentences are generaly only handled to people who were somehow involved in a crime but didn’t commit it not were accomplices of it. For instance, there has been the case of this guy who wanted to get back at his wife for some reason, hired two other guys to help him doing so, without telling them what kind of vengeance he had in mind, and eventually murdered her alone while they were waiting by the door. Or the guy who watched TV while his friends were busy raping a girl.
I’m personnally perfectly happy with this law, and strongly support it. We have obligations towards fellow humans, and it seems to me that a minimal level of help is definitely part of the social contract.
There is generally no duty to lend aid under American law. IIRC from law school in the early '90s, only Vermont and Minnesota had mandatory “Good Samaritan” laws, and even those were applicable only if the person rendering aid could do so at no risk to himself or herself.
Of tangential interest:
Can I legally refuse to feed Rachel Leigh Cook unless she sleeps with me?