Misprision of felony happens when someone knows about a felony but doesn’t report it to the police. The idea comes from old British common law. In the United States, most states never created this as a crime. If a state ever did create it, that law has generally been removed by now. If any state still lists it, you rarely see anyone actually charged for it. So, this law shows up very little in American criminal cases.
One reason is that most people see it as too harsh to send someone to jail just for not reporting a crime. It’s also tough for the police to find the people who kept quiet.
Consider how difficult it is to prove what someone knew but chose not to share.
Instead, if you don’t report a crime, most states manage this under other laws. The police also sometimes work with other parts of the government to give out rewards to the people who can share information about recent crimes. These cash incentives make it easier to speak up and help out.
False Information and the Priority for Modern Law Enforcement
Acts that once counted as misprision of felony under the old common law are now usually handled by other state criminal statutes. These things are covered by the laws about being an accessory after the fact, which makes false statements to the police, filing a false report, or obstructing justice.
The latest laws don’t work alongside the misprision of felony, because someone who comes forward and makes a police report could get prosecuted just for giving some incorrect information. It wouldn’t make any sense for anyone to risk a charge just for trying to tell the police what they know about a crime.
Take Pennsylvania. Here, if you knowingly give false facts to any law enforcement officer and you mean to blame someone else for a crime, you’ve committed an offense. It’s also against the law to tell the police a crime happened when it didn’t or to pretend you have some information about a case when you don’t.
Authorities seem more focused on how to stop people from giving the police false leads than on how to punish people who stay quiet about a crime. The problem is where modern law enforcement puts most of its attention.
What is Misprision of Felony Means in Law?
The states that still treat misprision of felony as a crime mostly have cases where someone doesn’t report a felony that already happened. In a small number of places, you might also find some penalties for not reporting a felony that’s about to happen. But that’s less common. And where misprision of felony is still on the books, it’s usually a misdemeanor.
Under federal law in the United States, misprision of felony is handled specifically. If convicted, you could be looking at as high as three years in prison or a fine. Originally, under common law, you would have been guilty just by learning about a felony and keeping quiet. Now, the federal law asks for something more. You’re only in danger if you take some active steps to cover up the crime. That means the prosecutors have to show four things – including someone committed a full felony, you knew about it, you didn’t tell law enforcement, and you did something to hide the crime.
What counts as ways to hide the crime? This could be lying to the police. That can help to cover up the evidence or even letting the perpetrator stay at your place so the authorities can’t find them. At the end of the day, a judge or a jury decides if what you did counts as concealment.
Take this situation to give you an example. John finds out that his neighbor James has robbed a series of banks. If John just stays quiet and never tells anyone, he isn’t guilty of misprision of felony under the federal law. But, if the federal agents ask him about James and he lies, then John could be charged with misprision of felony.
You don’t see people prosecuted for this crime. When they do go after this charge, it’s usually against people who have a legal responsibility, such as prison guards or elected officials. The choice to bring this case is up to the prosecutors. The authorities might choose to prosecute the crime if the government should want to encourage reporting of such things as treason or terrorism.
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When Failing to Report a Crime Becomes Criminal?
You only find misprision in states that brought common law into their state statutes or constitutions at some point. Some states also have their own laws with misprision. These laws almost never cause someone to be actually prosecuted, even when they’re officially on the books.
When misprision is still considered a crime in a state, the prosecution needs to show that the person tried to get in the way of justice on the job. You can look at a Massachusetts case from 1945 for a real example. In that situation, a man found the body of a missing child while he was in the middle of an extra-marital affair. Because he was worried that telling the police would bring his affair to light, he chose not to report the body. He did eventually share the location with the police. But he ended up convicted of misprision of felony, anyway. On appeal the court decided that he shouldn’t have been convicted, since he didn’t actually mean to block justice.
The Fifth Amendment right to stay silent and stay away from incriminating yourself is also a big reason why it’s tough for the state to win these cases. If you saw a crime, you might worry that you’ll be blamed or questioned about how you knew what you did. Because of this, the accomplices usually can’t be charged with misprision, either.
Contact a Lawyer for Help
If you are aware that a felony has taken place and are unsure if you are legally required to report the crime, you should consult an experienced criminal defense lawyer. Your lawyer can analyze the law in your state regarding misprision of felony and filing a false report. They can then advise you as to whether you should report or not.
If you have been charged with the criminal offense of failing to report a felony, or if you have been charged with filing a false report, you will definitely need the assistance of a lawyer to represent you in your case.