If someone overdoses and you videotape it. You dont call the cops or anything until there dead and then you tell someone about it...like one of your really good friends....are they supposed to tell the cops? I'm really stressing...and is that murder charges against the person who videotaped it? and what about the person who knows about it? I was watching it on a lifetime movie but i didnt see the ending..so i dont know what happends to the people involved?!
2007-01-10 08:01:05 · 10 answers · asked by Jessica 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
well what happends to the person who knows about it and doesnt say anything?
2007-01-10 08:05:59 · update #1
That's called being an accessory to homicide. It's a manslaughter charge, there are varying degrees of manslaughter as well.
2007-01-10 08:05:06 · answer #1 · answered by huckleberry 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
It depends on the laws in the state they were from.
Some states have laws saying the you must assist a person in mortal danger if the act of doing so would not reasonably threaten your life.
The last Seinfeld episode was about them all getting arrested for laughing and standing idly by while someone was robbed.
There have been cases where photojournalists have photographed crimes in progress without attempting to intercede. And while they generally get a lot of criticism for doing this, I haven't heard of any being convicted for it.
If there was any conversation or collusion between parties to conceal the crime or alter the crime scene in any way, then conspiracy charges can brought for impeding a police investigation.
Civil penalties are something else though. If it became common knowledge that a person videotaped it a family member or spouse could sue the person who videotaped for wrongful death and probably win a very large judgment from a sympathetic jury.
2007-01-10 16:13:58 · answer #2 · answered by aiguyaiguy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the real world it is unlikely that the person videotaping it will be criminally guilty of murder or manslaughter. In order for that to be so they must either participate in the murder itself or have a legal duty to protect the person who died (such as a parent/child relationship). Also, depending on their legal status they may have a duty to report the crime, such as public safety officers. Ordinary individuals, however, are not required by law to report the crime that they witnessed. Note, they are required to answer a subpoena!
2007-01-10 16:07:33 · answer #3 · answered by cyanne2ak 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If someone is videotaping someone dying and they did nothing to stop it they SHOULD go to jail. That is one of the things that is wrong with this country. It seems to be everyone for themselves instead of wanting to help others.
2007-01-10 16:37:48 · answer #4 · answered by Ryan's mom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can't go to jail for murder because you actually didn't do anything, but you could get in trouble for not preventing it, by not calling the police or an ambulance. It could be counted as involuntary manslaughter, each person can be accountable for not reporting a crime and the family could take a civil suite against that person.
2007-01-10 16:05:32 · answer #5 · answered by Annie 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
If you did not give the person who died the drugs, force him to take the drugs or in any way help him take the drugs, you didn't have anything to do with him dying. You have to actively do SOMETHING in furtherance of his death. NOT helping is not active.
If you see someone hurting themselves, you have no legal duty to stop them. If you see someone else hurting someone, you have no legal duty to stop them.
Whether you have a moral duty to help is an entirely different question.
2007-01-10 16:10:48 · answer #6 · answered by harrisnish 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you videotaped it and of course did not do anything about it, you are guilty of murder. Just wait for the knock at the door........
If your smart you would go and turn yourself in.
2007-01-10 16:06:45 · answer #7 · answered by bama_cid 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Thats hard to say what would happen. Nobody made the person do it. It would be hard to convict any of them. It may be morally wrong, but not something you could go to jail for.
2007-01-10 16:06:04 · answer #8 · answered by keri k 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
you could be made and an accomplice
2007-01-10 16:05:22 · answer #9 · answered by Chris M 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
yes?
2007-01-10 16:03:48 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋