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< | Good Samaritan Laws | >
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Good Samaritan Laws | | | Driving across the country to visit college friends, two twenty-something grad students were blindsided by a drunk driver. He crossed over four lanes and collided head on with their dark green ‘97 Buick. The young victim driving did not remember very much in the aftermath beyond wondering if she could move her legs, and the faint smell of the airbag pressed up against her. Multiple cars stopped, as the highway was now blocked, but no one came to their assistance until the ambulance arrived some time later. While morally questionable, should the failure of the onlookers to be Good Samaritans and attempt to aid if it was possible, or at the very least to pick up the phone and call for assistance, be declared a criminal offense? Although at first glance, requiring individuals to aid their fellow man if possible appears moral, ultimately such laws would not serve a greater purpose or effectuate change. | |
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< | How They Work | >
> | How They Work | | | Within the criminal legal system, Good Samaritan laws require that a person come to the aid of another who is exposed to imminent physical danger, even if there is no special relationship between the victim and the rescuer, if there is no danger of injury to the rescuer. While common in European countries, such as France and Germany, Good Samaritan statutes that carry criminal penalties and create an affirmative duty to act, rather than simply absolve a volunteer of liability for their attempted rescue, have only been enacted in a handful of states in America.
A minority of States has adopted one of three basic models of criminal Good Samaritan laws. States may enact expansive statutes that impose a duty to aid in the face of accident, “Acts of God” and acts of criminal third parties, a more limited statute requiring a bystander only to report a felony in progress and a victim in need of assistance, or the narrowest model requiring only that a bystander report specific types of crimes that they witness or know of, predominately sexual assaults. | |
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< | In Justification of Good Samaritan Laws | >
> | In Justification of Good Samaritan Laws | | | The criminal law system should, to a large degree, reflect the values of society. In order to have substantive effect, the system should punish what society considers anti-social behavior. In an ideal world, everyone would naturally want to come to the aid of his or her fellow human beings. To do otherwise, whether it is out of selfishness, fear, or hurry, would normally be considered anti-social behavior that detracts from society as a whole. Criminal statutes, such as Good Samaritan laws, would benefit society if they encouraged people to assist others, as well as, from a retributivist perspective, punish what society has deemed morally culpable actions.
Good Samaritan laws may act as a clear community expression that cultivates an expectation of intervention, and a community ethos of responsibility for your fellow man. Further, we are a part of a greater, connection community and the community, in order to function properly, may compel things from individuals that they do not want to do. However, laws that are largely symbolic, that do not actually affect how people behave in society, and which may ultimately cause more harm than good, should not be enacted. | |
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< | Why they are Just Not Worth It | >
> | Why they are Just Not Worth It | | | People who are inclined to help others, true good Samaritans, will continue to do so regardless of whether there is legislation compelling them to act. “Bad” Samaritans, those who would ignore a victim without offering aid, either out of fear, insensitivity to others, or a connection to the criminal perpetrating the act, will continue to do so regardless of whether their failure to affirmatively act has been legislated to be a minor misdemeanor. | | | America is a country built on the idea of individual freedom and liberty. Good Samaritan laws can therefore be perceived as “forced altruism,” or as unwarranted state intervention into what should be a personal choice. While we do not have a right to act without awareness of the consequences of our actions, do we have a duty to be alert to our fellow man at all times? Or rather, are we free to shut down our alertness and is that freedom compromised by the risk of being help criminally liable if we fail to come to the assistance of someone in need. | |
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< | Conclusion | >
> | Conclusion | | | To create a duty to assist and implement criminal sanctions against those who fail to uphold this duty, appears facially to be both correct and moral. Assuming that people follow the law as written, one could conclude that it would improve social welfare and remedy the dual problems that good will does not always come from within and that people may not always act in the best interest of society as a whole. Good Samaritan laws in actuality would probably have very little effect on how people acted, if not have a negative effect. While it is true that societies are more than just a collection of individuals, the enactment of broad duties to render aid which carry criminal sentences cannot be justified simply from their ability to act as moral symbols; it must come from their power to affect behavior is some positive way. |
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