Would you report a loved one for a serious non-violent offence? Why or Why not?
I'm talking about like tax fraud and stuff.
Do you be the snitch, or do you be like Skyler White and join them?
Styler was complicit in a murderous/ deadly underground drug ring, where families are shredded apart and people died.
Someone fibbing on their 1099 isn't anywhere near the same
No and no.
Ponzi scheme or something like that? Yes, I would snitch. Bank robbery, please do not tell me. Cheating on taxes? I will judge you but no, not turn you in, if you get caught you get caught.
No. Fuck the government and giant corporations. I mean I wouldn't commit such crimes, but that's just because I don't want to deal with the consequences if I get caught. If you're willing to pay your nickel and take your chances, go for it, as long as no innocent people are hurt in the process.
If it harmed an innocent, probably. If it harmed a government, corporation, or detestable person, no.
Rarely is it only one or the other and not both or even several together, though...
It's a case by case judgment call.
Depends, if the crime severely harms other people
First, Skyler was practically a hostage, and an unwilling participant at best. I would describe her more as an abuse victim who still stays with her partner than a collaborator.
But to answer your question it's always going to be a case-by-case basis because it really depends on the impact of what they're doing and the harm it causes.
But more serious stuff like dealing hard drugs to kids, selling guns and bombs to crazy people, killing people, blowing shit up, etc? Yeah, now we have a problem. Now, what gets done about that problem also depends on the person, the activity, and the circumstances.
Agreed. Are they punching up or down? What’s the potential harm and who will it harm?
If they’re just setting themselves up for disaster it’s probably best to remain hands-off and distance yourself. If they have a family I’d at least tell them what an idiot they are and then distance myself. Probably might be worth checking with the partner and tell them to protect themselves if they aren’t part of it.
And yeah, like you said, anything causing harm to innocent parties like selling hard drugs or guns is a non-starter.
Yeah, their reasons for doing it matter too obviously. If they're just fucking over other people to enrich themselves then I am much more likely to report them (and also stop being friendly, cause that's not the kind of person I want to spend my time with.)
Also re:selling guns I should clarify - I don't have an issue with selling guns, even illegally, unless they're selling to people who shouldn't have them.
I feel like this is the kind of question that needs a whole lot of details before it is answerable.
Tax fraud? Absolutely fuck not.
Drunk driving? Probably I would give them a single "Hey next time I find out you're doing that I am calling the cops on you" warning shot.
Stealing from their company? Depends, what does the company do and who owns it? Again almost certainly not.
And so on.
No wonder nepotism exists. https://www.statista.com/chart/8668/the-global-cost-of-tax-avoidance/
Personally I make a distinction in tax fraud. If it's an individual? Meh, whatever. If it's a company that has a significantly larger impact.
What offense?
exactly
Ya, hopefully OP is in a safe place if need be.
I ain’t seen nuttin’, officer.
You don't have join them, but you can also not see a god damned thing. Unless they're doing something that screws over good, innocent people, especially on a wide scale, I'm minding my own business.
Snitch on a loved one? Never. If I thought it was ethically or morally wrong, I would tell them what I think about it. Good people also make mistakes, and good people can change.
What if your family member deliberately molested a young child, would you not want to get that child help? Even if you refused to tell the police, you would need to tell someone related to that child and 99/100 cases would result in them reporting the abuse to police.
How is that a non-violent offence?
Depends on the details. If their crime hurt someone innocent (or had a high likelihood to) and it was intentional, yes.
If I'm likely to go down with them if they get caught, yes.
Otherwise, I ain't no snitch and even if I were I don't know anything about nothing.
Ethics comes above personal relationships always. That being said, small-scale tax fraud doesn't really seem pressing; there's plenty of flexibility about what to do about that, ethically speaking.
I'd have to duckduckgo where you even report that, because I don't think it's the normal police.
If it's non-violent, no. never.
As a general rule, I don't call the cops on anyone unless that person's death will prevent immediate harm to others.
Cause if you call the cops on someone, you do put that person (and their neighbors) in mortal danger.
It goes like this. If you have a problem and you call the cops, you now have two problems. It's up to you to decide if the first problem is worth getting into the second.
What about taking the direct (early) Breaking Bad example: they're not gunning people down in the street, but their product is definitely getting poeple, including children, addicted. It's non-violent, let's say they don't even hire people to shoot competitors or whatever, but it is inarguably causing people significant, probably life-long harm.
Snitches get stitches. Unless someone is hurting people, I ain't seen nothing.
I agree with other commenters that it depends on the crime against my own morals.
Neither? I'd wash my hands off the whole thing "on your head be it if this goes to shit".0
Not calling the authorities, also not going to need torture to tell them what I know if you get caught.
Serious, yes. Tax fraud, no.
Tax fraud may be serious to the govt, and the punishment may be serious, but you’re not hurting an individual, you’re not putting anyone out if business or out of a job, you’re not committing treason, you’re not even displaying sociopathic tendencies. Maybe if it were on the scale of Trump’s tax fraud …
Snitches get stitches. If they aren't hurting anyone let em be exercise ur right to silence if questioned.
If they get in shit tho don't bail em out its not ur problem.
Generally if a person or small business was harmed then I'll report them but if it's the government and they did tax fraud or evasion I couldn't be bothered.
10% cut.
Every family and relationship is different, I guess. I feel like active extortion would make the dinners a bit weird for me.
Report them for tax fraud? Almost definitely not. I would be getting a lawyer and accountant to insulate myself and my financials from them.
Not unless it was weird or something.
Violent offense?
Probably not, unless I thought he might hurt another person who was innocent. Then I'd have to think about it.
Maybe an exception for like a mass shooting, I think I might turn them in for everyone's safety, because if the cops found them on their own things might get bad. Hard part is working out how to do it safely.
If it was a one -off and the victim deserved it? I have no idea what you're talking about.
There's two extremes and the gradient between as I see it. One end of the scale follows their own code primarily and only respects laws they disagree with out of fear of social contract violations and the punishments. The other group follows and enforces all law without much critical thought about who is writing them and why. Unjust or not they don't seem to care. Then your middle grounders.
Partners and I have always been pretty strongly on the "our own code is primary" side. Probably because I wouldn't find someone with the other mindset attractive.
So, it really depends on what they did exactly. If I agree with them, I'm not saying shit. Although if I'm upset or not depends if we talked about it or not. If I'm just getting surprised by this, the sneaky secrecy behind my back would risk the relationship more than anything likely.
Tax fraud I wouldn't be okay with, so if they went and did it anyways or didn't talk to me about it beforehand that's game over.
Honestly, if it's truly a "loved one" I probably wouldn't even report them for murder. Why? I think that when someone is close enough to you we simply apply different standards to them. Kind of like rescuing your own child from a burning building rather that rescuing two strangers.
I detest people that make serious holes in their morals for close ones. It's repulsive.
There’s a big difference between committing a crime and reporting someone for a crime they’ve already committed. To me, it’s pretty clear why murder is wrong - but the virtue of reporting a loved one for murder isn’t nearly as obvious.
As long as nobody is hurt beyond the pockets, I don’t know shit about fuck.
Thanks for the spoiler.
This is nepotism plain and simple.
Everyone looks at trump employing his friends and family and complains, but put in the same place you'd all do the same.
Well that's a left-field response. He's not just employing friends and family, he's also employing loyalists who've garnered favors from him (because of their loyalty). And it isn't just a business, it's a government
I would employ my family if I could, but I sure as hell wouldn't choose them over qualified professionals, whether it's a business or a government. I'm sure as shit not gonna have someone with no financial expertise running my accounting, no matter how much I love them.
Don't make everything political and start stirring shit, we have enough of that right now
Lol. Do you know the word hypocrisy?
Tax fraud costs everyone. https://www.statista.com/chart/8668/the-global-cost-of-tax-avoidance/
I would not.
Even if the law made it my duty to do so, I would not comply (aka the law can go fuck itself). It's family. Family is at the base of everything else, including civil society (with all its laws, and all its crimes). There is no way I will report any member of the family, for anything.
It doesn't mean I blindly agree with anything stupid my family could do (certainly not) nor that whatever 'bad' they may do shouldn't be dealt with. It just means that it's not (civil) society's business.