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Depending on your family values and your upbringing, you may believe that that you should stick by your brother despite any unfavorable aspects of doing so. For some individuals, it has been ingrained into their psyche that loyalty to ones family is the root of their existence. To turn in a brother who has committed a crime, no matter how heinous, would be regarded as committing a dreadful sin against the family which may lead to abandonment and ostracism.

This is perhaps why many murderers are never caught despite their families being aware of their crimes. Unfortunately this can lead to the murderer committing even more terrible crimes until someone outside of the family finds out and breaks the silence.

To truly decide whether it is ethical to turn your brother in or not, you would have to consider the source of your values. If you live by ethics and values as stated in the bible then you would have some weight behind you to propel you to turn your brother in. As clearly, killing another is not acceptable according to God.

If you are a humanitarian, then although you may love your brother, you may consider that he may be mentally ill and needs to be withdrawn from society in-order to get help and to prevent further crimes being committed.

There again, if you are afraid of your brother you may protect him as a way of protecting yourself. The fear of turning him in and then him not being taken away may fill you with dread at the prospect of him coming after you for revenge for your disloyalty.

Possibly one of the most difficult aspects of turning a brother in would be the consequences that would surely follow. Your mother would be distraught and may never forgive you. Your father may have different views to you and may never talk to you again and your relationship with any other siblings may be on shaky ground.

Perhaps the reasoning behind such a lack of support for the sibling who has done the right thing could be because when people get such severe bad news about someone that they love, they tend to go into denial. Because of this they may turn against the 'good' son rather than the bad one.

But the right answer as to what to do is always to follow your inner voice. Most of us do really know right from wrong. We know that ultimately, what we choose do do rests with us and how it will sit within our hearts rather than how others will view us. So would I turn my brother in for murder? Thats between me and my conscience.

Learn more about this author, Bridget Webber.
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