# Crimes at state borders : how much of your body has to be over the line? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 2, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimes-at-state-borders-how-much-of-your-body-has-to-be-over-the-line/689878 "2014-06-02T23:51:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimes-at-state-borders-how-much-of-your-body-has-to-be-over-the-line/689878/21 "2014-06-04T17:22:11Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > Suppose you are at a clearly marked state border, and you decide to engage in act that is a crime in one state and legal in the other. For example, in one state, possession of marijuana for recreational purposes is legal. > > So you’re standing at the border, and light up a joint. If you walk with your body on one side of the line but the lit joint in a hand on the other side of the line, is that legal? > > Or suppose you engage in an act covered by sodomy laws in one state, but not in the other state. Which part of the sexual partners has to be over the lines for it to be a crime? Is one toe over the line enough, or do the genitals which are committing the crime need to be over the border line? Criminal law JURISIDICTION varies state to state, but only PROBABLE CAUSE is needed to arrest and or cite. If it is not possible to defacto determine jurisdiction, as long as PC exists to charge, the actor may be the sorry one. [http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2901.11](http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2901.11) ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimes-at-state-borders-how-much-of-your-body-has-to-be-over-the-line/689878/22 "2014-06-04T17:48:10Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Railway stations are rarely on jurisdictional borders. > [@md2000](#): > > Especially downtown ones. We had one, shared by two cites with populations of 70,000 and 20,000. It was last used in 1982, but there are plans to revive it. It was built to combine two stations when the track was moved to straighten out a tough bend. If anyone is looking to set a crime story in an abandoned building on a city line, this one would do just fine. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawtucket-Central\_Falls\_%28MBTA\_station%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawtucket-Central_Falls_%28MBTA_station%29) ---
**Author:** ![David42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@David42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David42)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimes-at-state-borders-how-much-of-your-body-has-to-be-over-the-line/689878/23 "2014-06-05T05:00:34Z")
I am having trouble finding any citation for it, but I once was part of a conversation about this subject with a couple of lawyers. One of them pointed out that for most of our history it was very difficult to determine exactly where a state line is. When it involves something like real property, a decision is made one way or the other. But for law enforcement purposes, they agreed that at least where the state demarcates the line with a sign, there is always a gap between the sign “leaving State A” and “entering State B” and the exact state line is only known as approximately somewhere in the middle. They both wound up agreeing that the area between the signs is a shared jurisdiction by either state that wishes to prosecute. GPS today would allow us to be more precise. But what is the margin of error? is the margin of error greater than the span of space a human body could cover? Is the state going to send a surveying team out to prosecute a case of smoking a joint if the cop is unsure precisely where the border lies? Questions like these I can confidently say are not usually subjected to such rigorous technical facts–there is the idea that close enough counts to counter those with bright ideas about how to flaunt a criminal law. And I’m wondering whether Congress has passed any sort of criminal law for such interstate situations. I think it certainly could. I think it is wise to avoid subjecting your actions to possible federal jurisdiction by making it an interstate question. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimes-at-state-borders-how-much-of-your-body-has-to-be-over-the-line/689878/24 "2014-06-05T15:00:21Z")
> [@David42](#): > > And I’m wondering whether Congress has passed any sort of criminal law for such interstate situations. I think it certainly could. Of course it has! > [@](#): > > I think it is wise to avoid subjecting your actions to possible federal jurisdiction by making it an interstate question. As a comparative example of jurisdiction when a crime is “commenced” in one state and “completed” in another BOTH states may assume jurisdiction, see Heath v. Alabama. This would also trigger INTERstate laws. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimes-at-state-borders-how-much-of-your-body-has-to-be-over-the-line/689878/25 "2014-06-05T15:13:18Z")
How accurate are state lines as marked or understood. I believe that the Four Corners between the States in the South West are actually many yards into one state only! And then there are those that are unclear as described as rivers and other topographical features change. ---
**Author:** ![EdwinAmi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5fc32e/32.png) [@EdwinAmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwinAmi)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimes-at-state-borders-how-much-of-your-body-has-to-be-over-the-line/689878/26 "2014-06-05T16:04:43Z")
there was a The Simpsons joke/bit that used this: > **[Simpsons Map Mystery](http://loststates.blogspot.com/2010/05/simpsons-map-mystery.html)** > > On last night's episode of the Simpsons, Sideshow Bob took Bart to "5 Corners" the only place in America where 5 states meet--so that Bob ... Sideshow Bob wanted to kill Bart, so he planned on shooting him in one state, the bullets travels through another, and Bart gets hit in another, or something like that ---
**Author:** ![spoony33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@spoony33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spoony33)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimes-at-state-borders-how-much-of-your-body-has-to-be-over-the-line/689878/27 "2014-06-05T23:47:37Z")
Depends on the crime the law can chase u into anothet state it also becomes a federal crime used to be u could run into another state it changed in the 1930s i think it all depends on the CRIME comitted [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crimes-at-state-borders-how-much-of-your-body-has-to-be-over-the-line/689878.md?page=1)