http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/world/what-in-the-world/antarctica-crime.html 2016-09-28 11:14:35 Cold Cases: Crime and Punishment in Antarctica How are crimes handled where there are no permanent courts, prisons or police forces? Under the Antarctic Treaty, countries police their own. === An unsolved death. Assault with a deadly weapon. Lots of alcohol-fueled misbehavior. It’s quite a rap sheet for a continent where almost nobody lives. Antarctica is a vast place, nearly twice the size of Australia, but it has no permanent population, other than a few thousand scientists and support staff members from dozens of countries who are sent temporarily to conduct research. Still, anywhere there are humans, there are bound to be Under the terms of the 53-nation Antarctic Treaty, workers accused of serious crimes at a research base are subject to the jurisdiction of their home country. So when an American cook attacked a co-worker with a hammer in 1996 at McMurdo Station — the largest base in Antarctica, with as many as 1,000 workers — Extreme weather can make traveling to Antarctica impossible for days or weeks. So just in case, the station manager at McMurdo is also a special deputy United States marshal, with training in evidence protection and the power to arrest Americans for offenses committed against other Americans. Other countries have similar arrangements with station chiefs at their bases. Robberies are rare because people can’t bring much into Antarctica, and there’s almost no use for money. Drinking is common, though, and that sometimes leads to fights or incidents of indecent exposure (brrr). Minor offenses are often dealt with simply by firing the culprits and sending them home. Where it can get complicated is with crimes involving citizens from multiple countries. “As soon as anything touching on Antarctic territorial sovereignty arises, one is, frankly, in a hall of mirrors,” said Alan Hemmings, a polar legal expert who used to command a British base in Antarctica. Seven countries — Argentina, Australia, Britain, Chile, France, New Zealand and Norway — assert claims of sovereignty over parts of the demilitarized continent. The rest of the world says that no nation owns any inch of it. The three bases run by the United States, including McMurdo, lie in territory claimed by New Zealand. When Rodney Marks, an Australian,