Inspired by this thread:
Has anyone ever been charged with a crime for something they did while in Antarctica? Ferinstance, assaulted another researcher, or stole something, or whatever?
How about in space? Suppose a cosmonaut got fed up with another cosmonaut’s crap and bitch-slapped him. In Moscow that would be assault & battery; what about in space? Has anyone ever had a pair of handcuffs waiting on them when their space vehicle returned to Earth?
There was a brief crime wave in Antarctica recently. [Actually, a glitch in some crime web site transposed the X and Y coordinates, placing a bunch of Houston crimes down there.]
This page mentions at least one serious crime (assault with a deadly weapon): http://tiger.gsfc.nasa.gov/crime.html. It also suggests there are more numerous petty crimes.
World Desk Reference says “Crime trend: Crime is negligible. Each person in Antarctica is subject to their national laws. Occasional petty theft from stations is linked to visits from tourists.”
There’s also a report of a crime family who tried to start a prostitution, gambling, and drug ring for the Antarctic researchers. Something tells me it might not be entirely factual.
There was a stealth unit that committed several murders to prevent the truth from getting out about an Antarctic meteorite in a Dan Brown novel.
In the context of space, there was this group who plotted to shoot down other people’s spacecraft, and even to attack ground targets. No, it wasn’t a James Bond film, it genuinely happened.
The plotters called it “Star Wars” or something like that … They even had a headquarters bulding shaped like a pentagram, which was a pretty clear giveaway. Their leader was codenamed Potus, which means drink in Latin.
I never heard how that conspiracy ended.
<3
Well, according to William Dyer’s first hand account a whole expedition was slaughtered by some elders.
(HP Lovecraft - At the Mountains of Madness)
According to Mary Roach, Packing for Mars, the cosmonauts regularly smuggled vodka up to he space station and punchups were considered to be a normal thing. As in, in Moscow it wouldn’t be assault and battery, it would be another night at the bar.
Cruelty to Animals.
Have you read about what happened to the dogs the USSR sent up?
There was an unexplained death at Amundsen-Scott Station in 2000. The inquest in New Zealand raised questions about his death as reported in the Daily Telegraph but nothing was ever conclusively decided. The New Zealand coroner was unable to determine the cause of death and the NZ police were stymied by the NSF as they did not believe NZ had jursidiction.
So, it could be murder but we may never know.
I do know from living at Scott Base for some time that there are numerous fights at McMurdo Station. Most seem to be resolved without the law being brought in which, if they had occurred in NZ, would probably have involved police and District court charges being laid.
I was at Scott Base when 3 men were involved with unauthorised use of a truck in 1986 at McMurdo Station. The offenders were packed off home (2 to the US and 1 to NZ) and nothing more was done.
The US Marshals have an agent stationed in Antarctica as law enforcement in the American section. If I understand correctly, the agent is actually an NSF employee who is trained and specially deputized by the Marshals. Any crimes would be federal in nature and would be prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office in Hawaii, by special arrangement.