Criminaliteit Tussen de Sterren: Ruimtecriminologie en het Domein van het Grenzeloze

Ukrainians buying satellites for defense against Russia. Space technology for monitoring climate change. Space debris that can pose a deadly threat to the International Space Station. With the rise of space tourism and ambitions to go to Mars, there are growing concerns about space crime, including space piracy and spacecraft hijackings (Miller, 2019), various forms of traditional and high-volume crime in space hotels that are on the horizon (Cottier, 2021), space terrorism (Emery, 2013), and organized space crime ("drugs in space") (Tatum, 2020). Essentially, these are concerns about all the criminal activities happening here on Earth, but among the stars. In short, space is a place where earthly conflicts, wars, and other forms of suffering can continue. Therefore, knowledge about space crime and how to control it is extremely important, especially considering future commercial space flights and manned missions to other planets.

In the strict sense of the word, however, space crime has not yet occurred. There was a brief mention of 'the first space crime ever' when in August 2019, the American astronaut Anne McClain allegedly gained unauthorized access to her ex-fiancé's bank account from the International Space Station (Baker, 2020). It turned out to be a false accusation.

In essence, our astronauts, seen as "hand-picked elites" (Billings, 2007), considered as proper representatives of humanity, reside outside our planet in the vacuum of space without exhibiting criminal behavior. Therefore, space law seems to function effectively in regulating space activities based on various international declarations, treaties, and principles. Conclusion: crime in space does not occur, and criminology has nothing to do with it. Right?

Of course not! Besides the fact that the McClain case shed light on various issues related to space crime, particularly the lack of understanding of its causes, manifestations, damage, and control, criminology would be remiss in denying the "dark number" principle concerning space crime. "Unreported space crime" ≠ "Space crime does not exist."

It is similar to how there was once limited thinking that criminology had nothing to do with the sea, airspace, and cyberspace. We now know better. In short, just like Buzz Lightyear said, "To infinity and beyond," that's where criminology will have to go to shape criminological studies on crime control in space. It requires an orientation towards criminal and harmful behavior that literally takes place beyond Earth, as well as expanding the thinking of criminology. We need to overcome a "state of denial" (Cohen, 2001) and transcend boundaries to see space crime. Just as the James Webb Telescope is an upgrade from the Hubble Telescope, allowing us to see even more and farther into space, space criminology could be an upgrade from space law—a broader and deeper understanding of crime in space.

Despite the small number of people in space, the absence of registered space crime as such, and the speculative nature of future developments regarding space crime, criminology should already be concerned. A deeper and broader understanding of space criminology could provide frameworks, in collaboration with space law, to preempt potential future problems or, at the very least, have a criminological conceptual framework ready instead of none.

But criminology needs to step out of its comfort zone. It starts with imagining that the universe has virtually no boundaries, at least not the same physical boundaries we are accustomed to on Earth. Space continues to expand and is possibly limitless. It is also nearly uninhabitable for humans, which is why only 644 people have been to space so far (Astronaut/Cosmonaut Statistics, 2023), with only 10 individuals currently in space (Whoisinspace.com). It also takes a tremendous amount of money and effort to send people into space.

Due to the unimaginably vast, literally inhuman space, it is easy to look away and remain in a state of criminological denial. However, the topic of space crime offers us a remarkable opportunity: a criminology of "before the act" of space crime! This can be achieved by letting go of imaginary boundaries.

Therefore, I expect that criminological imagination (Young, 2011) might provide some guidance. This guidance could assist "before the act" criminology by using criminological imagination to anticipate potential problems as space developments continue. In a way, an opportunity presents itself for criminology to have already developed such imaginative capacity (cf. Hajer, 2007) in the field of space crime. However, at this moment, it requires more from us as criminologists than merely producing theory, methodology, and empirical reactions obediently. Space criminology now needs creativity and an interdisciplinary criminological imagination. Astronomy, astrobiology, planetary science, space ethics, sci-fi prototyping, as well as closer disciplines like political science and law, are disciplines that have long been floating in the boundless extraterrestrial domain. They have dared to venture there.

Now it's criminology's turn.

References
Baker, M. (2020) NASA Astronaut Anne McClain Accused by Spouse of Crime in Space. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/us/astronaut-space-investigation.html.
Billings, L. (2007) Ideology, advocacy, and spaceflight: evolution of a cultural narrative. In Dick, S.J. and Launius, R.D. (eds.), Societal Impact of Spaceflight. Washington, D.C.: NASA, pp. 483–499.
Cohen, S. (2013) States of denial: Knowing about atrocities and suffering. Cambridge: Polity.
Cottier, C. (2021) The First ‘Space Hotel’ Plans to Open in 2027. Retrieved from: https://www.astronomy.com/news/2021/11/the-first-space-hotel-plans-to-open-in-2027.
Hajer, M. (2017) De Macht van Verbeelding. Utrecht: Universiteit Utrecht.
Miller, G. D. (2019). Space pirates, geosynchronous guerrillas, and nonterrestrial terrorists: Nonstate threats in space. Air & Space Power Journal 33(3): 33–51.
Tatum, M. (2020) Drugs in space: the pharmacy orbiting the Earth. The Pharmaceutical Journal 305(7939): DOI:10.1211/PJ.2020.20208033.
World Space Flight (2023) Astronaut/Cosmonaut Statistics. Retrieved from: https://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/stats.php.
Who is in space? (2023) Who is in space? Retrieved from: https://whoisinspace.com/
Young, Jock. The criminological imagination. Polity Press, Cambridge, 2011.