Is there a legal duty to report the past criminal activity to the police under State law?
The answer to his question varies from State to State. In most States, however, there is no legal duty to report a crime committed in the past to the police. Does State law permit a counselor to report the crime to law enforcement authorities if he or she wants to? Whether or not there is a legal obligation imposed on citizens to report past crimes to the police, State law may protect conversations between counselors of substance abuse treatment programs and their patients and exempt counselors from any requirement to report past criminal activity by patients. Such laws are important to patients in substance abuse treatment, many of whom have committed offenses. Part of these patients’ therapeutic process is acknowledging the harm they have done others. If substance abuse treatment programs routinely reported patients’ admissions of past criminal activity to the police, their work with patients in the recovery process would be thwarted. Laws protecting conversations between counselors
