Closed petition Create a criminal offence of filming/observing a crime without helping

Closed on 4 March 2019

Social media, and broader internet space, is being littered with videos, mostly taken on mobile phones, showing assaults on the public and police officers. Quite often, the filmmaker is with a larger group of bystanders, who all stand by and observe the violence but fail to summon help or intervene

Involuntary manslaughter, joint enterprise and gross negligence all deal with bystander type liability. But they require some kind of intent or legal duty. What about those who have no intent to harm anyone, and only owe a moral duty, and not statutory. It’s not acceptable for a person, without a reasonable excuse, to observe harm being done, and fail to get that person help, or if able to, attempt to stop the harm. Filming violence or doing NOTHING should never be acceptable.