Since the topic has come up, I thought I’d pass along the list I have of state statutes that impose a duty to rescue crime victims, or report crimes. This might help people see the different ways these duties have been crafted in the past — generally quite narrowly, but sometimes more broadly. I focus […]
Tag Archives | Duty to rescue
Duties to Report, and Duties to Testify
I note below one argument against duties to promptly report crimes that you’ve witnessed. (I speak here about such duties imposed on the public at large, rather than on particular professionals.) More broadly, I generally don’t support such duties. I should note, though, that such duties are not conceptually far different from duties to testify […]
Duties to Rescue (or Report) and the Anticooperative Effects of Law
The horrific Richmond gang rape incident has led some people to ask again whether the law should punish people for refusing to report a crime (which is what most “duties to rescue” end up reducing to, given that risky rescues are never required, and that intervening in a crime is almost always rescue). In light […]