P. S. Appelbaum and A. Meisel Therapists' obligations to report their patients' criminal acts. P. S. Appelbaum and A. Meisel, Bull. The law governing the obligation of therapists to report their patients' previous criminal acts was reviewed. 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Only one state has a general misprison statute labeled as such, and several states have recently repealed such statutes.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.