Is it immoral to be "snitch"?

[RobertUrbanek]

Is it unethical to be a “snitch� or “rat out� on someone who breaks the law? Does it make a difference if the person you are reporting on is a stranger or a friend or relative?

[Divine Insight]

According to the Bible we are to obey the laws of our societies. We are to do what is right in the eyes of the law. And we are not to lie.

Therefore, if you know that official authorities are out to question someone concerning an alleged crime, and you know the whereabouts of this person the authorities are seeking, then it's your civic duty to report this information to the proper authorities. Anything else would be failure to obey the law of the land.

After all, if the person these authorities are after is truly innocent they should be able to justify their innocence. So there is no valid reason for running from authorities or attempting to hide from authorities, and reporting the location of people who are attempting to hide from authorities is the right thing to do.

From my perspective this is one of the greatest contradictions that exist in the New Testament.

The irony here is that in the New Testament Judas is said to have "betrayed" Jesus.

What?

How could Judas betray Jesus?

Was Jesus a criminal? Did he do anything wrong?

Was it Judas' duty to help to conceal the whereabouts of a man who was hiding from legal authorities?

Moreover, what did they even want Jesus for? They merely wanted to question Jesus. They certainly weren't threatening to crucify him at that point.

Why should Jesus not be able to answer a few questions, demonstrate his innocence of all charges, and be released?

So there would be absolutely nothing wrong at all with Judas pointing out the whereabouts of Jesus. He would be doing the RIGHT and PROPER thing to do. And if Jesus was also right and proper he should have been able to defend himself honestly and be acquitted of any crimes.

In fact, this is precisely what happened.

According to the Bible the Pharisees could not charge Jesus with anything substantial. So they turned him over to Pilate, and Pilate himself exonerated Jesus of all charges stating that he finds "No fault with this man".

So Jesus was questioned and exonerated of all charges.

That should have been the end of it right there.

The theasco that followed of the Pharisees complaining about Jesus being exonerated by Pilate and supposedly inciting Pilate into offering the crowd to chose between Barbarras (who was slated for execution) or having Jesus crucified instead in his place, was a total aberration of anything that could even be seen as remotely legal or normal behavior at all.

Judas could hardly be held responsible for that.

So the idea of trying to make out Judas as someone who had betrayed Jesus is itself an oxymoron.

Judas would have been doing the right and proper thing to reveal to the authorities the location of Jesus.

After all, if Jesus wasn't a criminal why should he be hiding from the authorities in the first place?

[McCulloch]

Is it unethical to be a “snitch� or “rat out� on someone who breaks the law? Does it make a difference if the person you are reporting on is a stranger or a friend or relative?

I would turn the question around. Is it ethical to withhold evidence about a crime from the authorities charged with investigating that crime? Is it a good thing to do, to allow the criminal to get away with the crime, to be allowed to continue committing the crime. Should we aid and abet criminal wrongdoing merely because the one who is harming society is a friend or relative? If you prevent a criminal from being caught and charged, do you not bear some of the moral guilt when that criminal re-offends?

[Divine Insight]

Is it unethical to be a “snitch� or “rat out� on someone who breaks the law? Does it make a difference if the person you are reporting on is a stranger or a friend or relative?

I'd like to clarify something, especially with regard to my previous post.

In my previous post, I address "morality" as it has to do with the Bible. According to the Bible we are to do what is right by law. Whether or not we agree with the law is irrelevant.

However, that's a Biblical view of morality, which I personally do not adhere to.

In your OP you didn't really ask what is the moral thing to do but rather what is the ethical thing to do. Ethics don't require religion.

Since I don't adhere to a strict biblical concept of morality I'd like to offer my ethics on your question.

For me, to personally judge the ethics of a specific law is quite legitimate. Therefore if I judge a particular law to be unethical I see no reason to support the enforcement of that particular law.

I'll give you two examples to attempt to convey what I mean.

Let's say that my next door neighbor smokes marijuana, and this is illegal in my area. Technically they are breaking the law. However, I know my neighbor and I know that he only does this at home in the privacy of his own home and he isn't harming anyone, nor is he a threat to anyone. Therefore, IMHO, it is actually unethical to harass this person for doing something that's harmless for all intents and purposes even though it is technically illegal. So pointing out that he's doing this to the authority would be utterly foolish on my part. And uncalled for. So in this case I would not "snitch" on my neighbor.

You can apply the above ethics to any harmless activity that might be technically illegal. And I agree that in many scenarios it may be highly controversial as to what might actually be deemed to be "harmless".

But now let's move on to a totally different situation.

Imagine now that my neighbor is a habitual drunkard. He not only drinks heavily but he then jumps in his car and drives off down the road in a drunken stupor.

Would I 'snitch' on him? I sure would. As soon as he jumps in his car I'd be on the phone to the authorities informing them that he's back on the road again filthy drunk.

Why would I 'snitch' on him. Well, he's placing people in grave danger. He could kill someone, including innocent young children who just happen to be playing near a street he might be driving on.

So yes, if someone is doing something that can potentially harm innocent victims then yes, they should be reported to the proper authorities.

That's my ethics.

Getting back to the story of Jesus. Would I have told the authorities the whereabouts of Jesus? No, I would not. Why not? Because as far as I can see Jesus wasn't doing anything that is a danger to anyone.

Still, my original post stands. According to Biblical morality a person is supposed to follow the law whether they agree with it or not. And therefore if the law states that it's your civic duty is to report information to authorities that are requesting it, then your Biblical moral duty is to do just that. You aren't supposed to be judging the wisdom of authority and law. That's a big no-no in the Bible.

So in this sense Judas was doing the correct moral thing according to the Bible, yet the Bible also condemns Judas as having betrayed Jesus by merely doing the morally right thing. So it's a paradoxical story. The authors shot themselves in the foot on that one.

[Nilloc James]

The greatest acts of corruption and evil take shape when they funxtion without oversight. Whistleblowing helps bring unethical actiivity to public attention. Whistleblowing is a subset of snitching. Therefore at least some snitching is justified.

[Mr.Badham]

Is it unethical to be a “snitch� or “rat out� on someone who breaks the law? Does it make a difference if the person you are reporting on is a stranger or a friend or relative?

Is it unethical to watch someone break the law without telling someone?

I think it depends on the law, and how you feel about it. Maybe even how the person whose breaking it, feels about it.

If you know that your boss is using his status on a board that uses peoples retirement funds, and he steals them by syphoning them off.... yeah, rat the prick out. If you see a guy at work take his safety glasses off for a second while he reads a manual.... give the guy a break.

No harm no foul I say.

[connermt]

Is it unethical to be a “snitch� or “rat out� on someone who breaks the law? Does it make a difference if the person you are reporting on is a stranger or a friend or relative?

I wonder if one thinks there's a difference in being "immoral" and "unethical"....?
Seems to me, both are dependent on the individual.
To me, the bigger question is if one's responsible for what happens to someone if they don't "snitch" on someone breaking the law....?