Should individuals who watch a crime occur be eligible to face criminal charges for failing to report the crime?

I'm responding to this pole topic in my blog, because I'm having issues with the commenting system. My answer was:

Yes, In some circumstances only.
This is already the way that the laws are. As Blackout said, teachers and counselors that hear about abusive circumstances must report it, and can face criminal charges if they don't. I think that all in all this is really for the best.

If someone sees a crime occur, that is OBVIOUSLY a crime, such as someone being raped, or mugged, or about to be killed, shouldn't they report it? I think the moral answer for everyone here would be 'Yes, of course." Sadly, the reality is that if people know that others are seeing it too, most of them won't report it at all. We were taught extensively about this phenomenon in my psychology class last year. It's sad to think that a law might be necessary to ensure that these things get reported, but it probably is the case.
If there's a clear law stating that witnesses must report any crime they see, it's more likely that someone will pick up their phone and call 911, even if its just to comply with the law.

In extreme cases of course, rational thought goes out the window, rendering these laws useless... which would lead to the argument that if someone observed a crime and didn't report it, they could be excused if the situation was extreme enough. This however, is the area of lawyers before a court. Courts are supposed to exist to clarify just this sort of thing... unfortunately they can be rather warped. I don't think that people should be held responsible in cases like this unless there is a clear exception to the psychological rule. That is the place of a jury to decide.
In most cases, however, I don't think that such a law is necessary. I believe that most sane and stable people would feel morally obligated to report crimes in less extreme cases, because their rational selves will still be in operation.

Finally, though the law should remain as it is on the whole, I don't believe that ANYONE should actually go to jail for failing to report a crime. (I am not including cases of disguising crimes. That is something else completely.) All that it would do would be to fill up our jails with victimless criminals who don't belong there, and spend billions of dollars in tax money to feed and house them. They should be fined at the harshest level of punishment, and allowed to go free.

じゃあね, Dr. Kawfi