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Moon Crimes?
Illustration by James Bernardin
Canada is taking a stand against crime—in outer space. Politicians recently passed an amendment to the criminal code that allows the prosecution of crimes committed by Canadians on the moon. Although international treaties governing aspects of space do exist, experts say, they were written when few people expected to travel there. Now that flights are more frequent, more countries will likely follow Canada’s lead. The issue of space crime first came up in 2019, when a U.S. astronaut was accused of improperly accessing bank records while on the International Space Station. NASA cleared her of wrongdoing, but the case highlighted the need for stronger laws. “As humanity approaches a time when humans may realistically be living and working in space,” says Ram Jakhu, a law professor at McGill University, “an international centralized space governance system will be needed to bring all nations, individuals and institutional entities . . . under a common legal system and jurisdiction.”