# What crime would someone be charged with if they chose not to save someone's life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crime-would-someone-be-charged-with-if-they-chose-not-to-save-someones-life/751202 "2016-04-04T22:34:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 8
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2016, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crime-would-someone-be-charged-with-if-they-chose-not-to-save-someones-life/751202/8 "2016-04-05T00:18:27Z")
The OP is asking about criminal sanctions, but it seems to me the bulk of the responses are discussing whether there is any civil liability for a failure to rescue. I think there are only a very few states currently imposing a criminal penalty for failing to report or rescue the victim of an emergency. More states criminalize the failure to report instances of specific victims of specific crimes – that is, anyone who is aware of a minor who is the victim of sexual assault, for instance, must report it or face criminal penalties. We discussed this issue several years ago: > [@Statute of Limitations: time to rethink in view of Catholic molestation situation?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statute-of-limitations-time-to-rethink-in-view-of-catholic-molestation-situation/650475/11): > > Absent a specific crime that California created, unfortunately, I don’t see a violation of criminal law. The reason is that – surprising to many people – there is no general duty to report a crime. So if you became aware of a crime and fail to report it, you aren’t generally breaking the law. > > Perhaps the most in-your-face, horrifying example of this was the sexual assault and murder of seven-year-old Sherrice Iverson by Jeremy Strohmeyer. Strohmeyer lured Sherrice into a casino restroom, molested her, and killed her. His friend David Cash witnessed the crime – actually saw Strohmeyer grabbing and fondling Sherrice in [the] restroom. Cash left; Strohmeyer followed twenty minutes later and confessed he had killed the girl. Cash did nothing. > > After Strohmeyer was identified by casino cameras and arrested, there was an outcry for Cash to be punished in some way as well. After extensive investigaton, the authorities concluded that his conduct was simply not illegal. > > The case did lead to the state passing a new law requiring that anyone with reasonable suspicion that a child younger than 18 is being sexually abused or violently treated must report it. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crime-would-someone-be-charged-with-if-they-chose-not-to-save-someones-life/751202)._