Saw an interesting news story today on an experiment to test the general public response to a potential kidnapping;

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2014/02/11/06/29/experiment-tests-reactions-to-child-kidnappings

My answer to this question depends on what country i am in. For Example, i live in Australia, and in Australia i would never help anyone. If i was on holiday in America for example, no problem, i would love to help.

The reason for my answer is that in Australia the law is very weak to protect good Samaritans. I have seen some stories, most notably the two guys who pulled a rapist of a woman in the park... then the police charged the two men with assault! The lesson is very clear, never help anyone.

And i do not blame the police for what they did, the way things are arranged here, the law is taking a back seat to police decision making and that is dead wrong, the police are there to enforce the law not make the law!

Honestly, I think this pretty well sums it up. It's really hard to identify whether or not there's a crime going on.

The prudent thing to do in cases like this isn't always easy to see.

To be honest, i would still help (unlike the wankers who stand around and do nothing - sorry but not helping your fellow human being cause ur scared of getting into trouble is a weak excuse). There have been articles where the victim have cried for help, but bystanders do nothing.I find it incredulous...

Depends on the kid.

Yeah I'd help and not give a shit if I got in trouble doing it.

PERFECT ANSWER!

It's tricky to be sure. If you do something good, you risk having done something wrong too. In the US, if someone attacks you and they surrender, then you haven't the right to continue fighting. That goes from self defense to assault.

People act in their own safety though is why. You're juggling the decision to do what might or might not be the right thing, versus being unharmed as a bystander for what you haven't done. In the real world this is a decision that has to happen in seconds, and people go with what's easier when possible.

This doesn't mean it's right. The best I can say is that in the right situation, that I know for all certainty that whatever is happening is wrong, and that I can put a stop to it without being a victim myself, then I will act in public interest, and not self interest. Otherwise, it's too dangerous to act otherwise.

I would and if my life is on risk I would call the police right away, I never saw a kidnapping but I did see robbery, violence against womans etc and I always do something , the law in my country force me to do it but even if it weren't any law I would do it no matter what.

People don't always behave rationally under pressure. That experiment could get someone killed.

I think tinyE's is :p

But seriously we can all say something now we do this or we don't do that. But only if it happened to you in real life then you can judge the situation and act on it.

Maybe? I'd like to think that I'd help, but it's perfectly possible that I'd have a panic attack and be basically useless during the whole thing--I admit that. No real way to know unless you've actually been in such a high-stress situation, I think.

Not exactly. If you think through things, it will have a big impact on what you do when you are under pressure.

Not exactly either you can go all bold now like yes offcourse i will stop it but if it really happened you could get scared or what not and not stop it.

I'm rarely out and about without a lil'un of my own, so I almost never feel like I'm in a position to do violence. I don't sit still when a kid is in obvious distress, though.

i would jump rite in to help, hell i am there for reason and at moment of human instinct i do what is necessary, deal with the crap later