1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: brain Stuff. Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. In May of the year 3 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: two thousand, Rodney Marks, an astro physicists spending the winter 4 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: at the South Pole, died suddenly after an acute illness. 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:22,919 Speaker 1: Because no flights could land during the frigid winter, Mark's 6 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: body had to be stored for months until late October 7 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: and then autopsied in New Zealand, and Arctica's nearest neighbor. 8 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 1: The mysterious death touched off an international incident. Marks was 9 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:37,840 Speaker 1: an Australian working on a US base, and the investigation 10 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: into his death was being handled in New Zealand. If 11 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,160 Speaker 1: it turned out to be ruled a homicide, where would 12 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: the case be tried. It's not a simple question. Despite 13 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: being the temporary home for thousands of scientific researchers, civilian staffers, 14 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: and a few hardy tourists, Antarctica is literally in no 15 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: man's land. According to the nineteen sixty one and Art Treaty, 16 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 1: the snowpacked continent belongs to no nation, which makes criminal 17 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:09,120 Speaker 1: jurisdictions a messy affair. In the United States, if you 18 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: commit a crime, you're tried by either a state or 19 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: federal court, depending on the type of crime and where 20 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:18,479 Speaker 1: it took place. American courts even have jurisdiction for certain 21 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: crimes committed outside the nation's borders, like a murder on 22 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: a ship flying the American flag or a crime at 23 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:29,039 Speaker 1: a U S military base or installation overseas. Pretty straightforward. 24 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: An Arctica, though, is anything but straightforward. For the article 25 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:37,199 Speaker 1: of this episode is based on How Stuff Work. Spoke 26 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: by email with Dr Alan Hemmings, an expert on Antarctic 27 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: governance who spent two winters at the South Pole with 28 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:46,200 Speaker 1: the British Antarctic Survey. He explained that there are no 29 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: clear legal jurisdictions in Antarctica because there are no recognized territories. 30 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: Seven countries Argentina, Australia, Britain, Chile, France, New Zealand and 31 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: Norway make pie shaped territorial claims on the ic waste land, 32 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: and the United States and Russia exercise sovereignty at their 33 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: own research stations, but none of these claims are officially 34 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: recognized by the Antarctic Treaty, and a few of them 35 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: even overlap. Instead, the general rule is that a crime 36 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: committed by a US citizen at a US owned research 37 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: facility would be prosecuted in a US court. The same 38 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 1: goes for Russia, New Zealand, Japan, or any of the 39 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: other twenty nine countries operating research stations in Antarctica. Hemmings said, 40 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: But if the dead person and the alleged murderer are 41 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,359 Speaker 1: from different states, that is, countries and don't recognize each 42 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:44,080 Speaker 1: other's claim, and most don't. Particularly if the critical events 43 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,359 Speaker 1: occur away from anybody's station, say at a campsite, then 44 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: it won't necessarily be clear who has jurisdiction. As far 45 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,240 Speaker 1: as Hemmings knows, there's never been a criminal prosecution for 46 00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,679 Speaker 1: a murder committed on the continent. That's not to say 47 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: it's free from violence and vice. The dark and frigid 48 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: Antarctic winner, coupled with long stretches of isolation and cramped cohabitation, 49 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: plus heavy drinking, have driven some visitors to the brink. 50 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: Stories circulate of a Russian man who killed a companion 51 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: over a chess game, and of a researcher sick with 52 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: cabin fever who burned down his own station. Ultimately, New 53 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: Zealand claimed legal jurisdiction in the Marks case, which we 54 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:31,360 Speaker 1: mentioned at the top since it had possession of his body. 55 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 1: An investigation uncovered no clear evidence of foul play, so 56 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: there were no arrests or prosecutions. The leading theory is 57 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: that Marks drank a batch of bad liquor, as his 58 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 1: autopsy showed his body contained lethal traces of methanol. Hemmings 59 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: believes that in the event of a particularly heinous crime 60 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: involving citizens from different countries, the parties quote will likely 61 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: cooperate with each other and may very well agree that 62 00:03:56,880 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: one of them takes jurisdiction or come up with some 63 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 1: imaginative of solution. But some legal observers are concerned that 64 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: goodwill and cooperation aren't enough, and that the decades old 65 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: in Arctic Treaty needs to be updated before a truly 66 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: messy crime happens on the ice. In a two three paper, 67 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:19,359 Speaker 1: Townsend University law professor W. Michael second Ish proposed that 68 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:21,760 Speaker 1: the twenty two nations that made up a governing Committee 69 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: for an Arctic Affairs establish a unified criminal code. Second 70 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:31,000 Speaker 1: Is wrote one cannot easily determine whether an action is 71 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: a criminal act because of the various countries involved and 72 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: multiple basis for jurisdiction. This is an intolerable situation for 73 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:42,919 Speaker 1: a criminal defendant and violates any reasonable concept of due process. 74 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,800 Speaker 1: In the absence of such an international agreement, there's no 75 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,920 Speaker 1: saying how or where in an Arctic murderer would be 76 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 1: called to justice. This issue may become increasingly important as 77 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:58,720 Speaker 1: more and more nations in corporations i in Arctica's rich 78 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: oil reserves or future exploitation. Today's episode is based on 79 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:10,520 Speaker 1: the article Who's in charge of investigating depths? In an 80 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: article on how stuff works dot Com written by Dave Rubes. 81 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with 82 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang. 83 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: Four more podcasts from my heart Radio visit the i 84 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:24,599 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 85 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.