The Zone of Death

Day 303 / 365

There’s a movie named “Purge”, in which there is a 24 hour period when all crimes are legal. What if I told you that such a thing does theoretically exist in real life, and it’s not limited to 24 hours.

There is a 50 sq. mile area in the Yellowstone national park where because of a loophole in the American Constitution, it is possible to get away with any crime, even murder! This area is known as the Zone of Death.

Here’s what the loophole is. The Yellowstone national park has parts of land in other states, but it still comes under the jurisdiction of the Wyoming judicial district. So any crime committed in this region will have to be tried in Wyoming. However, there is also an amendment in the constitution that a crime will have to be tried with the jury members of the state and district where it was committed in.

Since this Zone of Death is inhabited, it’s impossible to assemble a jury and have a fair trial. Hence the criminal cannot receive any legal punishment.

This Zone was discovered by a law professor, who then wrote an essay to try and persuade the government to fix this. But he failed to do so. Surprisingly, no crimes have been committed in this zone yet, but I suspect we will soon have some youtube vlogger trying to do so just to get views.

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — Why a full circle is 360 degrees