The Analects of Confucius

Knowledge conveys a moral obligation

I've heard it said that a witness to a crime has a profound obligation to tell authorities what he knows. Personal safety of the witness is not a sufficient excuse. I've heard that the moral obligation of witnesses is profound to Confucianism. By extention the obligation to use knowledge for pro-social results is also an obligation. I could never find text support, but this is very interenting topic. What can you tell me about this?

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There are several categories in reporting a crime. In some states, it is illegal to knowingly fail to report a crime. "Under Texas law, for example, you can be charged with a Class A misdemeanor for failing to report an offense that resulted in serious bodily injury or death. In Ohio, on the other hand, it's illegal to knowingly fail to report a felony." If a person wasn't actually present during the commission of a crime, but took action to conceal the crime or help the perpetrators avoid capture, depending on the severity of the underlying crime would be a misdemeanor or felony in most states. There is also a mandatory reporting laws that mandate a witness or find evidence of abuse to report the incident to the proper authority, otherwise will fall under misdemeanor in most states.

Couldn't find so much information from the standpoint of Confucius regarding the profound moral obligation of reporting a crime to authority.

Source(s)

http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/failure-to-report-a-crime.html

Thanks for responding to my question. I must have conflated my understanding to errantly include Conficus.

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