Yellowstone’s Zone of Death

A legal loophole allows you to get away with murder within this 50-mile area of the Yellowstone National Park.

You might be thinking about an extremely irritating human being that doesn’t deserve to waste any further oxygen diatomic molecules (aka a Triple-Science, Top-maths Set, Blue-tied, nerve-cracking, cricket player, bean-looking human being that wears glasses and braces). Anyway, if that’s the case, there’s a 50-mile area in the Yellowstone park that may prevent you from being convicted with a crime because of the mere fact that it is no-man’s land. The area is an isolated spot with no human habitants, and misses legislation to prevent people from being charged with wrongdoings.

To understand this you must know what this loophole has to do with. The Sixth Amendment dictates that a jury must be comprised of people from the state and federal district where the crime was committed. Well, because this portion of the park lies in Idaho and the park itself is in Wyoming, a jury for a crime committed there would have to come from people who both live in Idaho and are under Wyoming’s federal jurisdiction.

This, however, would be an impossible jury to form due to the fact that this unpopulated part of Yellowstone is the only place that can fit such criteria. Since the park is federal land, the states involved have no legal jurisdiction to correct the problematic issue. Consequently, the zone has been labelled ‘The Zone of Death’, and even though it has become a well-known problem, no action has been taken yet, which makes me think of many conspiracy theories such as whether or not it’s beneficial for the US government to have this area to eliminate unproductive members of society (like the one described above).

The park is notorious for its multiple canyons, its alpine rivers, its lifeful forests, its hot springs and its gushing geysers. One of the uncountable geysers that lie on Yellowstone is Old Faithful, known worldwide for its spectacular and astonishing eruptions every 44 to 125 minutes. Being also home to many animal species, including wolves, bears and bison, Yellowstone Park’s area comprises almost 9000 km², the Zone of Death only taking up roughly 130 km² of this gigantic national park.

Well, now you are informed enough to grab that irritating person of yours and drag them to Yellowstone, perhaps by disguising their inevitable casualty as an harmless hiking trip. They will just happen to be walking and suddenly trip over a blade into an erupting geyser, or maybe just happen to stab themselves with a really sharp kitchen knife, no biggie. They may even get to see some of the park itself before their mortal incident happens (carrying you on their back, obviously). You name it.