Willful blindness is when someone deliberately remains ignorant of facts that could hold them accountable. It is not accepted as a defense in many regions and can be prosecuted. It can occur in drug trafficking and money laundering cases, and those who do not ask for information can still be held liable.
In law, willful blindness is a deliberate attempt to remain ignorant of facts that could hold someone accountable. In many regions of the world it is not accepted as a defense and can in fact be prosecuted. This is sometimes also known as contrived ignorance or willful ignorance.
A common example of willful blindness can be seen in cases where people acting as carriers for drug traffickers claim they did not know what was in the packages they were carrying. In these cases, the carrier deliberately makes sure that they are never explicitly told that a package contains drugs. In this situation, the carrier exercises voluntary blindness trying to remain in the dark, at least officially, of the fact that an illegal act is being committed.
One reason why willful blindness is generally not considered a good defense against illegal activity is that, in most cases, it would have been reasonable to suspect that illegal activity was taking place. In cases where there was a high likelihood that the actions could be suspicious and people did not ask for information, they can still be held liable on the argument that they should have known or reasonably believed that something was illegal, even if they didn’t necessarily know what.
Distinguishing willful blindness can be important. To use the drug trafficking example again, if someone leaves a bag unattended in a hotel room and a hotel staff member slips drugs into the bag with the intent of having someone take the bag at the destination of the traveler to take the drug, the person is indeed acting as an unwitting carrier. She or he didn’t know there was something illegal in the bag and carried it innocently. On the other hand, if the same hotel employee asked a guest to bring a package to a friend and the guest did not ask about the contents of the package, this can be seen as willful blindness according to the argument that the The guest should have suspected that there was something wrong with the contents of the package.
Willful blindness can also occur in money laundering cases, where someone tries to claim they were unaware that funds changing hands were obtained illegally. In general, when someone does something or accepts something in circumstances that appear suspicious and does not ask for information and clarifications, if the activity is illegal or connected to illegal activities, that person could potentially be liable even if he tried to avoid knowing the facts of the matter.
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