What is the legal status for use of deadly force to free yourself from illegal confinement? Does it matter the time involved, like for a hour it is illegal, but if you are held for 25 years it’s OK?
Don’t try it. The answer will vary a bit from jurisdiction from jurisdiction, but I did a bit of work on an issue involving allegedly unlawful arrest in DC. The common law traditionally viewed an unlawful arrest as an assault, pure and simple, which any man could resist with force as he would any other assault. (Of course, it would go badly for him if he mistakenly resisted a lawful arrest). DC’s current assault on a police officer (APO) statute, however, explicitly states that it is a felony to resist any arrest, lawful or not. Which makes sense - we don’t want suspects adjudicating the lawfulness of their arrest in the street, with fisticuffs. That’s what the courts are for, and I would bet that most jurisdictions have similar statutory language, both regarding police officers and prisons.
(I am not yet a lawyer. I am certainly not a lawyer in your jurisdiction. This is not legal advice. That being said - don’t do anything stupid!)
Are we talking getting arrested by police, or being held against your will from any person?
The OP did not mention arrest or police officers, so presumably it includes unlawful confinement by others, e.g., a kidnapping, and presumably some resistance is lawful is there, including deadly force in many cases. For example, if I’m kidnapped by a group of people carrying guns, and I manage to take the guns from them and kill them, that would be lawful self-defence in most jurisdictions.
Talking about kidnapping or being similarly held not by police. For example there was a woman who was held in a basement dungeon for 25 years, raped, had and mothered children of that rape all there. If she killed her captor to escape, which I believe was her father as well, would that be illegal?
Don’t get captured.
If you are tried and convicted in a court, even though you are innocent, escaping is still against the law most places.
Don’t get caught.
Anytime you use deadly force, expect there to be repercussions of one kind or another.
YMMV
That’s crazy, you mean if I get kidnapped and my holders won’t let me go without a fight (or I fear more harm to me while trying to get away) that I can’t use deadly force to free myself?
Is that about an innocent person being convicted of a crime in a court, and being imprisoned as a consequence? Yes, clearly escape is unlawful there, and using deadly force against the prison officers would be murder, regardless of how innocent you are. Your only lawful options are:
(1) Serve your sentence,
(2) Get a court to quash your original conviction, perhaps on the basis of new evidence, or
(3) Get pardoned (e.g., by the state governor or by the crown, depending, of course, on jurisdiction).
Here in SC, at least, my understanding you can use deadly force if you can’t get away, if you’re in danger of being killed or seriously hurt or if a reasonable person would feel him/herself to be in danger of being killed or seriously hurt, and if you didn’t start the thing in the beginning.
It seems to me that a kidnapping scenario (I assume we’re talking about kidnapping and that the arrest thing is a red herring) would depend on number 2, but that a reasonable person could assume that the fact of his or her kidnapping implied mortal danger. I’ve been told by many police officers, self defense people, and the like to “never let them take you to a second location”, for example, because they probably aren’t taking you to Disneyland.
I’m sure that the classic “grabbed and shoved in a trunk” kidnapping scenario would prove to be correct self-defense if I were to shoot you when you did it, in other words.
It’s already been made clear that the OP was not talking about the police or courts, but illegal detention by kidnappers, etc.
I’m not so sure that it’s been made completely clear, when GusNSpot said “If you are tried and convicted in a court, even though you are innocent, escaping is still against the law most places.”
Wouldn’t that count as “self-defense”?
The OP is unclear. Define illegal? A citizens arrest may well be legal or not. If you are wrong and use deadly force, be ready for the fall out.
If you are in the right and no legal punishment is warranted, you still get to live with it. That is a consequence… no?
The time to get away is right at the beginning…
YMMV
No. Self-defense is a defense that must be proven. There are a lot of different rules in different jurisdictions.
The gist of most of them is that you’ve acted reasonably and appropriately. If a person is threatening your life with a gun that you know is loaded and there is zero doubt that your life is in grave danger, that would be self-defense. If it’s some 10 year old kid with the word replica written down the side of his gun and you can see that the safety is on, you probably aren’t justified in using lethal force.
The same thing obviously applies to illegal captivity types of crimes. A bunch of columbian drug guys grab you and throw you in the trunk while discussing the best place to dump a body? You are probably ok with shooting them.
What if it is a bounty hunter who has mistaken you for someone else? You probably don’t even have the right to punch them. Perhaps you’ve been locked in a locker by the school bully, or whatever. There’s no self-defense claim (in most places) because there is no reasonable apprehension of harm.
In the example of the sex-slave lady held by her father, the case is iffy. It stretches believability that in 25 years or so, there was no chance to escape, notify authorities, etc without killing the captor. Of course, there is also prosecutorial discretion and a jury to deal with, so even if the letter of the law is that she murdered the captor, a sympathetic jury or prosecutor can prevent a conviction.
Since there are no bright-line rules on when lethal force is justified, there isn’t really a yes or no answer to the OP.
ETA: Oh yeah, if it’s a detainment under color of law, ie a police arrest, a security guard holding you for shoplifting, or something similar, you don’t have the right to defend yourself, generally. This is because (at least in the US) it is unreasonable that the Best Buy security guard’s detention or a police officer’s arrest can reasonably place you in apprehension of mortal harm.