HOUSE BILL ANALYSIS
HB 1429
Title: An act relating to criminal law.
Brief Description: Criminalizing failure to summon assistance.
Sponsors:
Representatives Miloscia, Mitchell, Dickerson, O'Brien, Ballasiotes, Barlean,
Gombosky, Wolfe, Morris and Keiser.
HOUSE
COMMITTEE ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CORRECTIONS
Staff:
Yvonne Walker (786-7841).
Background:
Duty to Rescue a victim.
The question whether a person should be legally
obligated to rescue another person in distress has troubled courts,
Legislatures, legal scholars, and others for a long time.
Under common law, a person generally has no duty to
rescue another person in distress. An exception to this rule is when a special
relationship exists between the parties and that relationship creates a duty to
assist. For example, a special relationship was found to exist in one
Washington case when the state undertook to render aid to avalanche victims but
failed to follow through with the proper warning.
Some statutes in Washington have departed from
common law in limited ways and have established an affirmative duty to assist
another. One example is the duty to report suspected child abuse or neglect.
Another is to report child pornography film that is presented for developing.
A third is to summon aid for a peace officer when requested. A violation of
any of these statutes carries criminal penalties.
Duty to rescue statutes exist in 13 European
countries. Some courts have shifted from the traditional rule disallowing
imposition of criminal liability for failing to assist another. In a famous
California case, the California Supreme Court, in absence of a statute, created
a special relationship between the psychotherapist of a psychotic patient and
the patient=s foreseeable victims. Since 1968, four states
have enacted duty-to-rescue statutes: Vermont, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and
Massachusetts. The penalties are generally either a fine, a limited possible
term of confinement (up to one year), or both.
A
Amisdemeanor@ is a crime that carries a maximum jail term of 90
days, a $1,000 fine, or both.
One
concern that has been raised about duty-to-rescue statutes is that a Agood samaritan@ is often subject to a lawsuit when something goes
wrong during the rescue attempt and the victim sustains injuries or dies.
State statute protects a person from civil liability for damages resulting in
acts or omissions while rendering aid to an injured person in an emergency,
provided the person is doing so without compensation and acts without gross
negligence or wanton misconduct.
Rendering criminal assistance.
A
person commits the crime of rendering criminal assistance if the person, in any
of a variety of ways, tries to hinder the apprehension or prosecution of a
person who has committed an offense.
The
ways in which a person may commit the crime include: harboring or concealing
the offender; warning the offender of impending apprehension; giving the
offender money, transportation, or disguise; committing an act of force,
threat, or deception to prevent apprehension; concealing, altering, or
destroying physical evidence; and giving the offender a weapon.
Failing
to assist a victim of the offender=s crime is not listed as one of the ways in which a
person may commit the crime of rendering criminal assistance.
Rendering
criminal assistance is a class C felony if the person is not related to the
offender and the crime the offender committed is a class A felony. The crime
is a gross misdemeanor when the person is related to the offender. Rendering
criminal assistance is a gross misdemeanor if the person is not related to the
offender and the crime the offender committed is a class B or C felony. If the
person is a relative, the crime is a misdemeanor.
Summary:
Duty
to rescue a victim.
A
new crime of Afailing to give reasonable assistance@ is created.
A
person is guilty of the new crime if the person knows that another person
(victim) has suffered or is about to suffer substantial bodily harm and needs
help; the person could Agive reasonable assistance@ (i.e. help) to the victim without placing himself or herself in
danger and without interfering with a duty the person owes to a third party;
the person fails to help the victim; and another person is not helping the
victim.
A
person satisfies the requirement to provide reasonable assistance by seeking
emergency aid. The person may also satisfy the requirement in other ways.
A
violation is a misdemeanor.
Persons
who provide reasonable assistance are immune from civil liability as others who
provide emergency care or transportation at the scene of an emergency.
Rendering
criminal assistance.
A
person commits the crime of rendering criminal assistance if the person fails
to give reasonable assistance to the victim of an offense to prevent the
apprehension or prosecution of the perpetrator.
A
relative who commits the crime of rendering criminal assistance is guilty of a
class C felony instead of a gross misdemeanor when the crime the offender
commits is a class A felony, and is guilty of a gross misdemeanor instead of a
misdemeanor when the crime the offender commits is a class B or C felony.
This
act is known as the Joey Levick Act.
Fiscal
Note: Requested on January 26,
1999.
Effective
Date: Ninety days after
adjournment of session in which bill is passed.