Flight, in the context of criminal law, means when a person accused of a crime runs away or hides to avoid arrest or prosecution.
Cases such as this one from Illinois, explain that “flight is the evading of course of justice by voluntarily withdrawing oneself in order to avoid arrest or detention, or the institution or continuance of criminal proceedings and it signifies not merely a leaving but a leaving or concealment under consciousness of guilt and for the purpose of evading arrest; such consciousness and purpose is that which gives to the act of leaving its real incriminating character.”
Furthermore, this case from Michigan, explains that “evidence of flight, which includes fleeing the scene of a crime, is admissible to support an inference of consciousness of guilt.”
[Last updated in July of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]