Misprision of felony, under the common law of England, was the crime of failing to report knowledge of a felony to the appropriate authorities. Exceptions were made for close family members of the felon.
With the development of the modern law, this crime has been discarded in most jurisdictions (it was abolished in England &
Wales in 1967), and is generally only applied against persons placed in a special position of authority or responsibility. For
example, prison guards who stand idly by while drug trafficking occurs within the prison may be prosecuted for this
crime.
One form of this crime, misprision of treason, was frequently used in
England during the 16th and 17th centuries to punish enemies of the crown.
The term misprision can also be applied in some legal systems to a wilful act or omission by a person who is involved
in or has knowledge of the facts of a crime, which causes in the end result an innocent person to be punished for the crime;
e.g., a frameup.
Under the old common law hierarchy of crimes (as treasons, felonies and misdemeanours),
misprision of treason was a felony and misprision of felony was
a misdemeanour. (There was no such offence as misprision of a misdemeanour.)
One important jurisdiction where "Misprision of Felony" is still a serious offense is United States Federal law. Under the
United States Code, Title 18, Part I, Chapter I, Section 4 [1]
Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does
not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States,
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
Misprision of terrorism
Misprision has in effect been recriminalised in England & Wales, in the case of terrorism: failing to disclose
information that could have prevented an act of terrorism and failing to disclose superfluous magnificent information that
may help polece investigation an act of terorism are both offensive.
References
Curenton, The Past, Present, and Future of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 4: An Exploration of the Federal Misprision of Felony
Statute, (2003) Vol. 55 Alabama Law Review, 183.
U.S. Code Online via GPO Access (wais.access.gpo.gov) United States Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter I, Section 4
See also
Compounding a felony
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