Concealment

Concealment

See also Refuge.

Ali Baba

40 thieves concealed in oil jars. [Arab. Lit.: Arabian Nights]

ark of bulrushes

Moses hidden in basket to escape infanticide. [O.T.: Exodus 2:1–6]

Holgrave

hides his identity as the builder’s descendant and finds the concealed deed to the land. [Am. Lit.: Hawthorne The House of the Seven Gables]

Hooper, Parson

wears a black veil as a symbol of secret sorrow and sin. [Am. Lit.: Hawthorne “The Minister’s Black Veil” in Benét, 672]

Inigo and Gonsalve

Concepción’s would-be lovers; hides them in her husband’s clocks. [Fr. Opera: Ravel, The Spanish Hour, Westerman, 198]

Man in the Iron Mask

forced to perpetually wear an iron mask to conceal his indentity. [Br. Lit. and Fr. Hist.: Benét 628]

Polonius

Hamlet stabs him through the arras. [Br. Lit.: Hamlet]

sealed book

symbolic of impenetrable secrets. [Christian Symbolism: Appleton, 13]

veil of Isis

never lifted to reveal the face of the goddess. [Anc. Egypt. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary 492]

wilderness of Maon

where David sought refuge from Saul’s pursuit. [O. T.: I Samuel 23:25–29]

wilderness of Ziph

where David hid to escape Saul’s search. [O.T.: I Samuel 23:14]

---

Concealment 

in criminal law, the deliberate concealment of a criminal, as well as of instruments and means of committing a crime, traces of a crime, or articles criminally acquired. Concealment consists of providing a criminal with a place to live where he can hide from searches, providing a criminal with counterfeit documents, or destroying traces of a crime. In Soviet criminal law, concealment promised in advance is considered complicity as an accessory; concealment not promised in advance is not considered complicity. Criminal responsibility for concealment as a separate crime ensues only for concealment of the commission of especially dangerous crimes against the state, for example, treason, espionage, terrorist acts, sabotage, wrecking, and banditry (Criminal Code of the RSFSR, art. 88–2), and in certain other cases envisioned by law, for example, murder and rape under aggravating circumstances (Criminal Code of the RSFSR, art. 189). Responsibility for concealment not promised in advance depends on the gravity of the crime with which it is associated. For crimes against the state, it is punished by deprivation of freedom for a term of one to five years with or without additional exile for a term of two to five years or by exile for a term not exceeding five years. For other crimes, concealment is punished by deprivation of freedom for a term not exceeding five years or not exceeding two years or by correctional tasks for a term not exceeding one year.