It is entirely possible to find oneself implicated after the fact in an act one did not commit but did not speak up about, and then to feel more implicated thro

It is entirely possible to find oneself implicated after the fact in an act one did not commit but did not speak up about, and then to feel more implicated through fear-paralysis inaction over a long period of time (through the guilt of not speaking up). This is why for example when the British police run public cold case campaigns they often stress that people might seek to come forward because "allegiances change" -- careful code that hints at leniency while seeking help from former co-inmates who have fallen out with the offender, spouses or abused partners leaving husbands, children escaping the control of malignant parents, etc., or people who have simply survived the now dead offender and are no longer terrified to speak. I would wager that many stolen objects are quietly destroyed by those who inherit them, rather than confront the difficulties returning them would involve.