WEBVTT - How Would Authorities Handle a Murder in Space? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:07.120 Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.920 Lauren vog Obam here. Maybe it will be a jealous 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:13.800 astronaut who decides to eliminate a rival in an orbital 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.480 love triangle. Or maybe being cooped up in a spacecraft 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.319 on an interplanetary flight will cause one crew member to 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:24.000 finally lose it at a colleague's annoying throat clearing. Or 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:25.959 maybe it will be a killing made to look like 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:30.680 an accident for some kind of nefarious space plot. But 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:33.920 sooner or later it seems likely to happen. Given humans 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.400 propensity for committing homicidal violence against one another all over 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.559 the world, somebody is going to commit a murder in 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:44.239 space or on another planet or moon, And when it happens, 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:46.760 authorities will have to figure out how to catch the 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:51.840 perpetrator and restore justice. But it's not going to be easy. 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:55.360 Investigating a murder in space would be vastly more complicated 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:58.400 and difficult than probing a crime on Earth, and law 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.560 enforcement agencies and words may have to deal with tricky 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:06.440 jurisdictional issues that end up requiring negotiations among spacefaring companies, 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:09.880 and until the laws are rewritten, judges will have to 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:12.600 take statutes and legal standards that were developed to deal 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.480 with murder allegations on Earth and figure out how to 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:20.760 apply them to accusations of lethal violence in space. You 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.039 might be surprised to learn that nations already have legal 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:28.400 jurisdiction that stretches outside the confines of this planet. That's 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.520 covered an Article eight of the nineteen sixty seven Treaty 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:34.800 on Principles Governing the Activities of States and the Exploration 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:37.559 and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and other 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:42.160 celestial bodies. It specifies that whenever one of the nations 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:46.160 that's a party to the Treaty launches an object the spacecraft, satellite, 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:49.360 or space station into space, or builds one on a 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:54.800 celestial body, that nation retains jurisdiction and control over it. Thus, 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.680 according to legal experts, if a U S astronaut is 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.400 accused of killing another American while try raveling in a 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.480 NASA spacecraft or on a commercial space vehicle launched from 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.760 the United States, the FBI and federal prosecutors would be 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:09.920 within their authority to arrest the alleged killer and bring 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:14.120 them back to Earth for trial in federal court. Things 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:16.800 might get a little more complicated if the murder occurs 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:20.000 on the International Space Station and the alleged killer and 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:24.639 victim are citizens of different countries. But yes, there are 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:28.280 experts in this. We spoke via email with Franz G. 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.480 Von der Dunk, the male professor of space law at 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.160 the University of Nebraska Lincoln's College of Law. They said 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:39.400 Article twenty two of the intergovernmental agreement concluded between the 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:43.799 parties deviates from the aforementioned international treaty clauses and by 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:48.399 contract concedes jurisdiction to the state of nationality of the offender. 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:53.480 But there's a caveat quote, if the life or safety 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:56.160 of persons with other nationalities and or the safety of 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:59.280 the space station is at stake, consultation should take place 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.679 with these other countries concerned on which country should actually 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.400 initiate prosecution, which may result in the country of nationality 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:11.040 of the victim doing that. But this only covers the 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:14.680 International Space Station or I s S. Things could get 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.880 even more complicated jurisdictionally if there's a killing on a 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:21.480 future private sector orbital hotel, the sort of place where 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:24.960 this is probably more likely to occur. We also spoke 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.120 via email with Michelle Hanlon associate director of the Air 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:31.200 and Space Law Program at the University of Mississippi School 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:34.720 of Law. She said, if you have four hundred civilians 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:37.680 in space, you know crime inevitably is going to happen. 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:40.640 We send the most disciplined and fit people, the best 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.160 of humanity to the i s s. With a hotel, 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:45.119 you're not going to be able to impose the same 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:47.600 standards you need to make money. You're going to get 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.280 a lot greater variety of people, and you know there 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:53.320 is going to be crime, possibly from stealing a watch 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:57.960 all the way to murder. Who actually qualifies as the 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:01.520 hotel's launching state with jurisdaytion under the nineteen sixty seven 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.720 treaty could be murky too. It could be Nation A, 0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:07.160 which is home to the company that operates the hotel, 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.360 or it could be Nation B, where the installations components 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.640 were manufactured, or Nation C, where the launch pad for 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.240 the rocket that transported the parts into space was located, 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.200 or Nation D, home to the company that rented the 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:23.440 launch pad. Hamlin said, arguably any of these states could 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:28.359 have jurisdiction as a result. Crimes in space, particularly incidents 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.719 involving nationals from different countries most likely would lead to 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:36.200 diplomatic negotiations to see who gets to take charge and 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.360 what if an astronaut on a spacewalk decides to, say, 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:43.119 cut another astronaut's tether, who would have jurisdiction then, since 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:45.720 the act would have occurred outside of an object controlled 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:49.839 by a nation. We also spoke via email with Henry R. Hertzfeld, 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:53.040 a research professor and director of the Space Policy Institute 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:57.640 at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. He said, 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.839 although there is no sovereignty outside spacecraft, there are analogies 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:04.799 to the law on ships and international waters, and also 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:08.120 to issues that might occur in Antarctica. Of both places 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:11.479 with no national sovereignty, any person in space has a 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:15.159 national citizenship is the responsibility of the launching state or 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:18.000 the person state of citizenship for their activities in space, 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.360 and would be tried for a violation of the law 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:24.359 in the appropriate state. But let's assume that the US 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:28.000 takes jurisdiction over a space murder. Investigating the crime and 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:30.400 building a case is going to be tricky considering that 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.520 the crime scene and potential witnesses are outside the Earth. 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.600 Hamlin said, you might have to add a whole new 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:40.159 profession space cop. There's going to be a tremendous cost 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.039 to send someone into space just to investigate a murder, 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.960 and gathering evidence in space or on another planet or 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:51.480 moon might be especially difficult. DNA, which is increasingly a 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:55.200 key means of identifying perpetrators, would age differently on Mars 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.880 than on Earth because of the increased exposure to solar 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:02.039 radiation due to the red planets that are atmosphere. Additionally, 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:04.680 lower gravity would lead to such things as different splatter 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:08.200 patterns from stab wounds. On the plus side, the ubiquitous 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.760 Martian dust clinging to the exteriors of space suits and 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:14.080 other surfaces might provide a valuable new sort of evidence 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:17.920 handling figures that investigators and prosecutors will find a way 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.760 to deal with it. She said. Our law developed four 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:23.919 fingerprints in DNA. When you prosecute a criminal case, you 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:27.760 do what you can with what you're given. Space murderer 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:30.840 may also require the courts to grapple with Fourth Amendment issues. 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:35.080 Since astronauts are continually being monitored in myriad ways, including 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:38.680 on video. Hanlon said there's a value to having cameras 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.039 in every room of a spacecraft, but do you have 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:44.320 an expectation of privacy? She expects that many of these 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:48.000 questions will be resolved by wise judges and lawyers, but 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:51.160 should also like to see spacefaring communities come together and 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:54.280 work out a new international agreement on how to collaborate 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:57.760 on handling future crimes in space. She said, what we 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.800 don't want is an international space regime that has very 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:04.880 different concepts from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Hopefully we can explore 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:13.679 space together as a species and have common understandings. Today's 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:15.960 episode was written by Patrick J. Kaiger and produced by 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:18.960 Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio's 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:20.840 How Stuff Works. For more and this and lots of 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:23.640 other unearthly topics, visit our home planet how stuff Works 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.200 dot com and for more podcasts from my heart Radio, 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:28.920 visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 0:07:28.960 --> 0:07:30.240 you listen to your favorite shows.