Crime scene getaway

A crime scene getaway is the act of the location where one has broken the law in order to avoid apprehension by law enforcement. It is an act that the offender(s) may or may not have planned in detail, resulting in a variety of outcomes. A crime scene is the "location of a crime; especially one at which forensic evidence is collected in a controlled manner." The "getaway" is any flight or escape by a perpetrator from that scene, which may have been witnessed by eyewitnesses or law enforcement.

The crime scene getaway is the subject of several penal laws, as well as a "notion" in academic studies of criminology.

A perpetrator can escape a crime scene by running, riding a horse, driving a getaway car, or riding with a getaway driver. If motor vehicles are used for the getaway, then each vehicle is a new crime scene.

In some jurisdictions, the very act of making a getaway from a crime scene is an inchoate criminal offense in itself, though it is generally viewed as natural behavior for a lawbreaker. For example, under New York law, "escape" is defined as escaping custody or detention; "unlawful fleeing a police in a motor vehicle" is a distinct crime.

Traditionally, for thousands of years, the standard method of escape from a crime scene was for the perpetrator merely to run away, faster than the proverbial constable on patrol, sheriff, or the night watchman. This was common even into the 20th century. For example, according to the Warren Commission report, Lee Harvey Oswald infamously walked, then ran away from the Texas Book Depository from where he shot President Kennedy on November 22, 1963. If another means of transportation becomes unavailable, the suspect may have to run.

Once humans domesticated horses, that animal became a favorite way to escape a crime scene. Jesse James and many old "Wild West" bank robbers and train robbers of the 19th century used horses to get way from the scene of their larceny.

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