At trial Socrates was found guilty and he was given a death sentence. His friends begged him to escape and did all they could to make it simple for him to just walk out of prison. Socrates ultimately decides to finish out his punishment and drinks hemlock to end his life. In Plato's Crito Socrates explains to his friend Crito why he will not escape. (there is a good discussion of this in the required reading for this week as well as some links in the Recommended Resources section) Basically it comes down to Socrates will not break the law.
What is it about Socrates' character that leads him to this decision? In other words what is it about the laws and his character that "forces" him to stay and face execution?