# You're unjustly convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison. Do you run if you can? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 7, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677 "2009-05-07T18:25:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/21 "2009-05-07T22:35:39Z")
The authorities are always going to be watching your family to see if you make contact with them. If you want to avoid capture, you’ll have to stay away from your family unless they can come meet you in some foreign country. I wonder if the laws allow a family to cash in everything they have and take it to a foreign country to live with a fugitive. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/22 "2009-05-07T22:40:51Z")
I wouldn’t run, but if I could walk I would. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/23 "2009-05-07T22:42:16Z")
What does this mean? Lots of my patients say they were unjustly convicted. Usually on the basis that rules of evidence weren’t followed, extranious issues were allowed in as testimony, the judge/police/witnesses had it in for them, etc. In candid moments, they will admit that they did do the crime, but still complain that they really should have gotten away with it. 🙂 As for me, I’d consider skedaddling. I see what prison life for guys doing a long, hard time is like. Usually not as bad as portrayed in TV and movies, but no picnic. I could probably contemplate 5 years or so, but 20 is a bit much. Except maybe in a minimum facility. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/24 "2009-05-07T22:43:51Z")
> [@riker1384](#): > > The authorities are always going to be watching your family to see if you make contact with them. If you want to avoid capture, you’ll have to stay away from your family unless they can come meet you in some foreign country. I wonder if the laws allow a family to cash in everything they have and take it to a foreign country to live with a fugitive. See, that’s where I have an advantage. I despise my oldest brother but would feel obliged to assist him if he were the fugitive, and likewise he’d feel obliged to help me. Thus if I were REALLY in need, I could get in contact with him and have the bonus that I might get HIM sent to prison. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/25 "2009-05-07T22:49:36Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > What does [unjustly convicted] mean? Mileage, obviously, may vary; I was attempting to leave the question open-ended. I think it requires that the person answering the question be utterly innocent of the crime (it really **was** a one-armed man who killed Mrs. Kimball). Beyond that it can be taken at least two ways: 1. Though the police, prosecutor, judge, and jury were all persons of integrity, either a bizarre set of circumstances or the intervention of a party outside the process led caused the evidence to seem to point to the person’s innocence; or 2. The system itself is corrupt. Lex Luthor or whoever controls the government in the jurisdiction in question and is irritated with the poor schmo. If it’s 2, I think the person should definitely run. ---
**Author:** ![RoniaBorkason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9dc877/32.png) [@RoniaBorkason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoniaBorkason)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/26 "2009-05-07T23:14:21Z")
I would run. Its funny, I’ve lived a very straight life, but I still know people who know people who could get me to Mexico. With plenty of money, from there I could make it someplace nice - Argentina, maybe, or Peru, and set up my life again. My family has legitimate family in South America, we could arrange to meet and visit. The only thing I’d need is some way of getting my husband out, and it could be done. I’m young, though, and don’t have a lot of roots. It would be much harder to run if I had children. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/27 "2009-05-07T23:28:18Z")
I would rather live off food in dumpsters than be locked up and face the violence, rape and confinement of prison. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/28 "2009-05-07T23:29:29Z")
I wouldn’t run. I’ll (hopefully) be a lawyer by this fall. Running would be an admission that I hadn’t been able to successfully defend myself in the legal system, or assist my own attorney in doing so. Pride would stop me. Moreover, I’ve spent my entire life building my name - whatever respect, whatever honor, whatever cachet has accrued to it over the years would be gone once I fled. I would probably have to abandon it wherever I ended up. I won’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/29 "2009-05-07T23:31:44Z")
Heck after watching way too many judge judies, the peoples court, law and orders, and made for tv dramas, I’d be tempted to run like hell for even being charged for a serious crime, much less an actual sentence passed. Thats one of my semi serious real life fears, that I will be in the wrong place at the wrong time and the judicial system just through bad luck goes all “reverse OJ Simpson” on my innocent ass… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/30 "2009-05-08T00:30:33Z")
Oh HELL YEAH. One quick dodge into Borders to buy (with cash) Fodors Guide to Brazil, _Dummies Guide to Forging Travel Documents_, and _Learn Portugese in 16 CDs_ and I’d be out before you could say “Até-logo dude!”. Of course if I had substantial off-shore accounts I’d probably already have a fake passport somewhere. I’d probably dye my hair a much darker color, then shave the top of my head so it looks like male pattern baldness, buy some colored contacts to change my eye color, wear a knit shirt and slacks, and basically do as much as possible to look like your typical middle aged business man. Go to Canada on a day trip and leave for Brazil from there. (Or maybe Switzerland- how hard is it to get in there?) Now if it was a 20 _month_ sentence, I might do things differently, but in 20 years, if I’m still alive, I’ll be in my 60s, hopelessly behind the times due to incarceration, who knows if my off shore accounts will still be there, and I’ll have a convicted felon status on my record. What the hell do I have to lose by running? ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/31 "2009-05-08T00:45:26Z")
I run. First, I significantly alter my appearance- hair cut and color, maybe a visible tattoo, colored contacts. Then I head up the 405. You can get a complete set of fairly good papers (DL, passport, birth certificate) on the street in LA in broad daylight (takes about 2 hours). Then I am into the wind. I will have set up a series of code phrases with the hubby, and will probably contact him via WoW from a public computer. He & the children will eventually come to me. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/32 "2009-05-08T00:57:41Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Mileage, obviously, may vary; I was attempting to leave the question open-ended. I think it requires that the person answering the question be utterly innocent of the crime (it really **was** a one-armed man who killed Mrs. Kimball). Beyond that it can be taken at least two ways: > > 1. Though the police, prosecutor, judge, and jury were all persons of integrity, either a bizarre set of circumstances or the intervention of a party outside the process led caused the evidence to seem to point to the person’s innocence; or > > 2. The system itself is corrupt. Lex Luthor or whoever controls the government in the jurisdiction in question and is irritated with the poor schmo. > > If it’s 2, I think the person should definitely run. I believe you are defining this too narrowly. The circumstances don’t have to be that bizarre to result in a false conviction. I think there are many, many false convictions. I’m going to try to find a cite for this, but IIRC someone from The Innocence Project said this (though I have to paraphrase it): “When we’ve tested DNA evidence related to criminal convictions, we’ve found that about 1/3 of those convicted of the crime are actually innocent. Of course this only applies to crimes where certain forms of evidence are available, but there’s no particular reason to believe the rate of false conviction is different for any other category of crime.” I suppose this doesn’t specifically affect your OP, but that observation has stuck with me for years. There’s no proof it’s correct, but it may be that something like a third of all convictions are false. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/33 "2009-05-08T01:05:42Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I believe you are defining this too narrowly. I did say “at least two ways,” because obviously there may be more. I didn’t get too specific in the OP because I didn’t wish to be stifling. To me, the salient elements here is that you are factually & morally innocent–that is, whether or not the dead man deserved what he got or the stolen money went to orphaned Billy Batson as it was supposed to in the first place, you are not the person who fired the gun or hacked into the bank computers. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/34 "2009-05-08T01:19:55Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I did say “at least two ways,” because obviously there may be more. I didn’t get too specific in the OP because I didn’t wish to be stifling. > > To me, the salient elements here is that you are factually & morally innocent–that is, whether or not the dead man deserved what he got or the stolen money went to orphaned Billy Batson as it was supposed to in the first place, you are not the person who fired the gun or hacked into the bank computers. You’re right, and I didn’t mean to contradict anything you said. I was basically hijacking your thread – forgive me – to make the point there may be shitloads of innocent prisoners in prison. And the vast majority of them haven’t run, for whatever reasons. [Spock]Fascinating!/Spock] ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/35 "2009-05-08T01:25:42Z")
Based on [this info](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_extradition_treaties), I’d have to modify my answer and substitute Dubai for Brazil. Or maybe Morocco. God knows the civilized world all have extradition treaties with the US. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/36 "2009-05-08T01:34:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > You’re right, and I didn’t mean to contradict anything you said. I was basically hijacking your thread – forgive me – to make the point there may be shitloads of innocent prisoners in prison. And the vast majority of them haven’t run, for whatever reasons. > > [Spock]Fascinating!/Spock] I’ll decide when my thread has been hijacked, thankyouverymuch, and I don’t think you were doing so. I just wanted to say that I realized there were many possible scenarios. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/37 "2009-05-08T04:05:50Z")
> [@](#): > > And the vast majority of them haven’t run, for whatever reasons. No need to thank me. Just doing my job. ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_Schmeese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Marconi\_Schmeese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_Schmeese)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/38 "2009-05-08T04:21:32Z")
Run like the wind. Drastically change my appearance. Meet up with hubby on the beach somewhere foreign. No problem. Rather die than rot in jail - innocent or not. ---
**Author:** ![firstname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@firstname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firstname)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/39 "2009-05-08T04:31:44Z")
I’d run, as an Australian getting across the border is not really an option, I’d probably try to go into North Queensland, and eventually try to get to Indonesia, If that was too difficult, I think I’d just move into a nice little town and get a cash in hand job. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677/40 "2009-05-08T04:32:26Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Based on [this info](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_extradition_treaties), I’d have to modify my answer and substitute Dubai for Brazil. Or maybe Morocco. God knows the civilized world all have extradition treaties with the US. Since we’re in the planning stage, here’s what I found, from [Extradition law in the United States - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extradition_law_in_the_United_States) > [@](#): > > The United States maintains diplomatic relations, but does not have extradition treaties with the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Chad, China (People’s Republic of China), the Union of the Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Cote d’ Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Jordan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Madagascar, the Maldives, Mali, the Marshall Islands, Mauritania, the Federated States of Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Oman, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé & Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. \* > > Countries without treaties or diplomatic relations > > The countries which have neither diplomatic relations nor extradition treaties with the U.S. are: Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, and Korea (North). Of these, Andorra, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Indonesia, Madagascar, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Taiwan, Togo, Vanuatu, and Vietnam may be worthy of consideration, and, in particular, Vanuatu, Micronesia and Togo may be expected to have good surf and nice weather. Cuba is also a direct flight from Toronto, eh? I rule out the Maldives on the grounds that global warming may submerge the country, leaving me to be picked up by the US Coast Guard. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youre-unjustly-convicted-of-a-felony-and-sentenced-to-prison-do-you-run-if-you-can/495677.md?page=3)