Appelbaum P S, Meisel A
Bull Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 1986;14(3):221-30.
The law governing the obligation of therapists to report their patients' previous criminal acts was reviewed. Most often, discussions of this subject fall under the general category of "misprison of a felony," that is, the presumed general obligation of all citizens to report felonies that come to their attention. Review of federal law revealed that the courts have consistently interpreted the federal misprision statute as requiring active concealment of a crime, not a mere failure to report, in order to convict for the offense. State law is more diverse. Only one state has a general misprison statute labeled as such, and several states have recently repealed such statutes. The strong trend in states without statutes is to reject misprison as a common law crime, because of its incompatibility with modern notions of justice. Most states, however, have limited reporting statutes, such as for child abuse or gunshot wounds, that impose similar obligations. Therapists' reporting of past crimes may be affected by clinical and ethical concerns, as well as by obligations to protect future victims. In almost all jurisdictions, however, the fear of prosecution for failure to report a past crime should not be a factor in deciding on a course of action.
对规定治疗师有义务报告其患者既往犯罪行为的法律进行了审查。关于这个主题的讨论大多属于“隐匿重罪”这一一般类别，也就是说，假定所有公民都有报告他们所知晓的重罪的一般义务。对联邦法律的审查表明，法院一直将联邦隐匿犯罪法规解释为，要判定有罪必须是积极隐瞒犯罪，而不仅仅是未能报告。州法律则更为多样。只有一个州有明确标注的一般隐匿犯罪法规，而且有几个州最近废除了此类法规。没有此类法规的州的强烈趋势是拒绝将隐匿犯罪视为普通法罪行，因为它与现代正义观念不相容。然而，大多数州都有有限的报告法规，例如关于虐待儿童或枪伤的法规，这些法规规定了类似的义务。治疗师报告既往犯罪行为可能会受到临床和伦理方面的考虑，以及保护未来受害者义务的影响。然而，在几乎所有司法管辖区，因未能报告既往犯罪行为而担心被起诉不应成为决定行动方针的一个因素。
