Can someone condemned to death flee...?

[JohnDamian]

Can someone condemned to death flee if he has the opportunity?

I was reading Henry of Ghents’ Quodlibet (9;26) and was somehow unsatisfied with the answer given (yes).

The question boils down to who has the ownership right over the substance of the body of the condemned - the individual or the judge?

I was wondering if anyone knew of any other solutions to this problem; because Henry’s answer seems somewhat lacking.

Thanks.

 

[SonCatcher]

Yes, such a person may flee, but he may not commit any further crime in doing so. In the Old Testament, there were cities of refuge where people condemned to death could go to spare their lives. Today, the death penalty is typically reserved for the most heinous crimes (the kind which one could not seek refuge for even in Biblical times).

Your short question is a simpler matter. The person always has his his right to life. The State (by the decision of a judge and/or jury) makes the decision to deprive one criminal of his right in order to preserve the rights of life for the populace.

 

[Katholish]

If the person were unjustly condemned, perhaps. However, it would seem that when given a just punishment by rightful authority, you are under moral obligation to receive the punishment. To escape would seem a manifestly unjust act. I am also reminded of we are given, I believe in the Acts of the Apostles where Paul and Silas are in prison and an earthquake shakes the prison opening all of the doors, yet Paul and Silas remain in their cell.

On the other hand, there is the account of the liberation of Peter, but this is done only on the direct command of an angel, and whatever the case, it is clearly a case of injustice.