The law doesn’t always require someone who has information about a crime that’s planned or has already occurred to report that information to authorities. However, when someone helps in a cover-up of a crime later, helps someone evade authorities or lies to law enforcement, they typically can be charged with a criminal offense.
Most people have heard of crimes like obstruction of justice and being an accessory after the fact. A lesser-known federal offense, but a potentially very serious one, is “misprision of felony.”
The federal statute
The entire statute is just one sentence: “Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”
According to an instructor with the Legal Division of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC), a person who knows about the commission of a federal felony is required to report it to the proper law enforcement authorities even if they don’t need to be able to prove that a particular person was involved in the crime or even know who committed it. However, “A simple failure to report a crime does not make one guilty of Misprision of a Felony. There must be some affirmative act of concealment for the offense to apply.”
Guilt isn’t always easy to prove
This charge can be tricky to prove for authorities to prove. For example, an employee could be instructed to delete files or engage in other actions to conceal illegal activity and not realize what they’re doing. While people often associate these offenses with things like drug trafficking and kidnapping, some “white collar” offenses are federal felonies. Certainly, something being contacted by someone who’s on the run after committing a federal offense and telling authorities you haven’t heard from them is a more obvious violation of the law.
If you’re in doubt about what to do if you know or believe you know about criminal activity, it’s always best to get legal guidance to protect your rights and help ensure that you’re in compliance with the law. If you’re already under investigation or facing a misprision of felony, accessory after the fact and/or similar charges, that legal guidance can make or break your case.
