Universal Space Criminal Justice Act (USCJA)

Description

The Universal Space Criminal Justice Act (USCJA) is an ironic and tongue-in-cheek piece of international legislation that is still missing at this point in time. In fact, it is not even seriously talked about within the international community.

Given that conflicts and pollution caused by space debris are already happening in space, commercial spaceflight tourism is developing significantly, and human missions to the Moon and Mars are planned to begin in a few years, it is necessary to start anticipating future misbehavior and crimes in space.

Therefore, the USCJA is meant as a discussion starter to ignite serious international effort and debate to work toward such an act. This Act should be read as a criminological critique of the absence of the USCJA. The lack of such an act could potentially enable crimes, including new ones, to take place in the future, with offenders enjoying impunity.

We have learned about maritime crime and later aviation crime, but only after-the-fact. Now, we have the luxury of considering space crime before-the-fact and working toward an appropriate internationally shared criminal justice system to combat it. This is how this Act ought to be read and understood, as well as its role as a discussion starter.