If he'd been a shrink, an admission of an act that has bearing on one's
personal safety or the safety of others must by law
be reported to the authorities.
Interesting point, whether the admission was one that had to be reported. The confessor wasn't threatening anybody. He wasn't going to do them any harm -- the State was, but that was 'legal" harm -- that is, it was taking place in a legal environment, it was the state who accused, brought to trial, etc. . So by keeping silent, the counselor was allowing harm to happen that could presumably have been avoid, but it wasn't his client who was going to cause the harm, and indeed if the shrink had told he would have caused serious hardship to his client.
In this situation, a lawyer certainly wouldn't have an ethical duty, and maybe not an ethical right, to speak. I'm not sure about a shrink, but I doubt they could have testified if he had told them not to. , |
