This might have its roots in Nazi era when even children happened to denounce their parents to the Gestapo. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20756166 https://www.

This might have its roots in Nazi era when even children happened to denounce their parents to the Gestapo. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20756166 https://www.jstor.org/stable/20756166 "Several historians have claimed that ordinary citizens who volunteered information on suspected infringements of the letter or spirit of the laws played a crucial role in everyday terror under Hitler's dictatorship"