Police: Gang rape outside school dance lasted over two hours

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

So, 'stop snitching' works here hmm?

Now...my question to you is, when you say 'duty to act', how do you define it?

I mean that if you are simply a witness to a crime, did nothing to encourage it, were not aware it was going to happen, don't have a special relationship with the victim, you are well within your rights to do absolutely nothing.

If I see some individual in the process of killing another and I can stop it, I also have the option to just stand there and watch it happen, keep on walking, etc.

As far as 'snitching' goes, no. If I'm questioned by police about a crime about which I have first hand knowledge, if I'm not incriminating myself, I'm compelled to answer their questions or I'm obstructing justice.

[epchick]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I mean that if you are simply a witness to a crime, did nothing to encourage it, were not aware it was going to happen, don't have a special relationship with the victim, you are well within your rights to do absolutely nothing.

Soooooo what about people that get arrested for "failure to render aid?" Pretty sure you are REQUIRED to do something if you see someone who has been a victim of a crime.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by epchick

Soooooo what about people that get arrested for "failure to render aid?" Pretty sure you are REQUIRED to do something if you see someone who has been a victim of a crime.

Depending on the state, usually this refers to things like traffic accidents.

Seriously, you do NOT want Joe Sixpack required to act like Captain America - we could have had 2 stabbings in addition to a gang rape. Somebody should have called the cops. Nobody should have stood around and watched. Nobody should be required to intervene, though, unless trained to do so (such as campus police or administrators).

[epchick]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Depending on the state, usually this refers to things like traffic accidents.

Seriously, you do NOT want Joe Sixpack required to act like Captain America - we could have had 2 stabbings in addition to a gang rape. Somebody should have called the cops. Nobody should have stood around and watched. Nobody should be required to intervene, though, unless trained to do so (such as campus police or administrators).

Ahh gotcha, I thought it would go beyond traffic accidents. Which btw sounds kinda lame, you have to stop and render aid for a traffic accident, but not if you witness something like this.

I think these boys were too busy trying to get theirs off to worry about stabbing someone, but I get what you are saying. Although, if there were that many people watching, had someone stepped into help, I bet there would have been at least 1 or 2 others that would join in. It's that mentality that you won't do something unless someone else goes first.

[rhoyaltempest]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I mean that if you are simply a witness to a crime, did nothing to encourage it, were not aware it was going to happen, don't have a special relationship with the victim, you are well within your rights to do absolutely nothing.

If I see some individual in the process of killing another and I can stop it, I also have the option to just stand there and watch it happen, keep on walking, etc.

As far as 'snitching' goes, no. If I'm questioned by police about a crime about which I have first hand knowledge, if I'm not incriminating myself, I'm compelled to answer their questions or I'm obstructing justice.

Okay but can we be empathetic for a second and not spew the legalities all the time? You know darn well and so does everyone else, that if it were your mother, sister, aunt, daughter, etc. being abused, you would hope to God that someone would certainly not exercise their "rights" and stand there and do absolutely nothing.

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Morally speaking, WTF.

Legally speaking, I don't know all the facts, but I can't see anything indicating anyone had any sort of duty to act here. If you think about the ramifications of imposing a duty to act on any witness to a crime, you'll probably pretty quickly figure out that'd be a bad idea.

Originally Posted by rhoyaltempest

Okay but can we be empathetic for a second and not spew the legalities all the time? You know darn well and so does everyone else, that if it were your mother, sister, aunt, daughter, etc. being abused, you would hope to God that someone would certainly not exercise their "rights" and stand there and do absolutely nothing.

He actually did say he was shocked at what happened, but legally certain things applied.

[rhoyaltempest]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

He actually did say he was shocked at what happened, but legally certain things applied.

Okay, well then maybe we should change these "rights" and maybe in fact we should have an obligation to do something, at least to call the police. Maybe then at least people wouldn't stand there and watch if they knew they could get arrested for doing so. We can create laws for everything else. Why not create them to protect our children? Isn't this our society? Don't we decide how it will be or won't be? Doesn't what happens in our society impact all of us, either directly or indirectly? Couldn't this have been anyone's child? We need to get with the village mentality or things will only get worse. Some of us had it once upon a time ago and we were better for it.