The unity of Plato's 'Crito'

I argue that Plato models the entire Crito on an Athenian legal procedure called graphe paranomon, an indictment against illegal decrees. In response to Crito's proposal for escape, Socrates consciously initiates a process of deliberation analogous to the legal procedure. In addition to numerous structural parallels, he at one point openly alludes to the graphe paranomon and identifies the imaginary Laws as prosecutors within the procedure. The legal analogy that emerges not only unifies the conversation between Socrates and Crito but also explains why Plato includes the Laws and gives them such a large presence within the dialogue.