I thought that if a lawyer knew a crime was committed he has the obligation to report it. Same with religious privilege. Maybe a lawyer person here can answer .....
Lawyer person here:
1. If a lawyer is told by a client that the client committed a crime (past tense), the lawyer is duty-bound by confidentiality not to say anything about it.
2. The lawyer cannot, however, represent to the court that the client did not commit the crime. (This doesn’t mean the lawyer can’t question the sufficiency of the evidence and cross-examine and present evidence of alternate scenarios. In other words, “There’s not enough evidence my client did X” is fine. “My client didn’t do X” isn’t.
3. The lawyer also can’t help hide any evidence.
4. Religious privilege is really rooted in priest-penitent privilege. Without splitting a bunch of ecclesiastical hairs, the Catholic faith believes that when you speak with your priest it is a conduit to God, and hence is not discoverable. Other faiths, which do not carry that belief, do not have the same privilege. So, if you’re a Catholic, it’s safe to blab to your priest about your misdeeds; if you’re a Methodist or Lutheran or pretty much anything else, I’d think twice about it.
A lawyer is an officer of the court. He answers to the legal system, and must follow their rules.
I'm going to answer from the Catholic perspective on the religious side, because that's what I know.
A Catholic priest's rules are from God, and are distinctly above whatever the local laws say.
Confession is a sacrament of the Catholic Church. Priests do not have a blanket obligation to report crimes to police, in fact they are violating the sacrament if they repeat anything they have heard in confession to anyone. That is a sin for them to do so. I'm sure there are times where they must make the decision to violate that sacred trust, but those are few and far between.
At least that is my understanding, but it has been a long time since catechism class.
I don't practice crim law but it's when a crime is ABOUT TO BE committed (not after the fact). If my client told me he was going to commit a rape and then went out towards committing that crime, I'd then have to report it.