A tiny place on the planet where the laws of justice do not work (13 photos)

In Yellowstone National Park, located in the USA on the border of three states (Wyoming, Montana and Idaho), there is one very remarkable place that to this day excites the minds of not only avid travelers and adventure lovers, but also... representatives of the law.





Yellowstone National Park

The thing is that a relatively small plot of land within the park, with an area of ​​130 km², is not only located in a remote area, far from roads and populated areas, but is also an exception to all legal norms and laws.



"Death Zone"





This area was called the “Death Zone”, because due to gaps in the legislation, on its territory you can go absolutely unpunished for any, even very serious, crime.



For the first time, such a “loophole” in the law was discovered by Professor Brian Kalt in 2005, and the reason for its occurrence, paradoxically, was the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution. This amendment establishes the right of a defendant to request that a jury be composed of residents of the state and federal district in which the crime was committed. Regarding other US territories, the Sixth Amendment worked flawlessly, but not in the case of Yellowstone National Park.



Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution

The fact is that the park is within the jurisdiction of the county of Wyoming and two states at once - Montana and Idaho. Thus, a person who commits an atrocity has the right to a court composed of residents of the state of Idaho and the county of Wyoming. But the problem for the justice machine was that no one lived in the part of the park that lies in both Idaho and Wyoming County. And since there are no residents, then there are no jurors, and without a jury a trial is impossible. Therefore, the criminal, whatever his offense, virtually remains unpunished.



As I said above, this gap in the law was first discussed by University of Michigan law professor Brian Kalt in his article “The Perfect Crime.” He said that in the United States there really is a so-called “Death Zone” with an area of ​​only 50 square miles (130 km²), where you can commit any crime with complete impunity.



Brian Kalt

For example, arrange a “purge”... Do you remember the film of the same name, where, according to the plot, one night a year you could commit atrocities with impunity, without fear of punishment? Here, too, approximately the same principle was in effect.



Still from the film "The Purge"

By the way, the matter was not limited to the publication of the article, and Professor Kalt tried by hook or by crook to convince Congress to change the situation. Do you agree that it is somehow wrong that a person who has committed a crime can escape punishment simply because the law is imperfect?! However, Calth's calls remained unheard.



Yellowstone National Park

The Death Zone, meanwhile, continued to attract even more public attention. This was facilitated by the release of the novel Free Fire by Charles James Box in 2008, as well as the thriller Population Zero, which was released in 2016.



Poster for the film "Population: Zero"

And finally, in the summer of 2007, an incident occurred that once again confirmed both the imperfection of the Sixth Amendment and the presence of “loopholes” in the adopted laws. Michael Belderrein, who illegally shot an elk in Yellowstone National Park (and, as we remember, hunting is strictly prohibited in the reserves), decided to exercise his Sixth Amendment right and demanded a jury, which, by law, was supposed to consist of residents of the state of Montana .



This was possible, but only in theory; in practice, there were so few inhabitants of this territory that it was impossible to recruit the required number of jurors from the word “at all.” As a result, Belderrein remained unpunished, and the judicial system lost perhaps its only precedent in a long time in the “Death Zone” case.



Article fragment

At the moment, the question of the “Death Zone” remains open...