by Don Davidson

Created on: January 24, 2010   Last Updated: January 25, 2010

I have to answer this question with a qualified “no.”  As a general proposition, a person traveling to a foreign country is responsible for knowing and obeying that country’s laws.  And if you break a country’s laws, then you are subject to the penalties that country sets for such violations.  The role of government is not to help you avoid accountability for your actions.

I think of my time as a lawyer in the Navy, serving on board an aircraft carrier deployed to the Mediterranean Sea.  When the ship visited Italy, one of our sailors was detained by the Italian authorities on suspicion of raping an Italian girl in town.  The Navy arranged for the sailor to have an Italian attorney to represent him, and kept close tabs on the progress of his case, but made no effort to secure his release.  The man was accused of committing a crime on Italian soil against an Italian national, and it was only fair that he face Italian justice.  Why should the United States intervene to try to stop that?  The ship sailed without him, and he eventually stood trial in Italy.

Yet I must qualify my “no” by adding the observation that some countries have horribly unjust laws or a justice system that is corrupt.  Therefore, in some cases allowing a citizen of this country to be tried and punished by another country works a grave injustice.  Think of North Korea, where two journalists were captured on the wrong side of the border after being led there by their guide, who may very well have been working for the North Korean government to set them up.  Or think of Iran, where three American hikers who wondered across the Iraq-Iran border are being held for trial as spies because Iran’s leaders have apparently decided that the threat of such a trial is politically advantageous in their war of words with the West.  If our government can prevent such an injustice, I believe it should try to do so.

Of course, the question under consideration assumes that the government is able to negotiate your release, which is not always possible.  A Status of Forces Agreement sometimes protects members of our military from facing punishment under the laws of the country in which they are serving, especially in countries whose justice system falls far short of our standards.  That protection is not available for the American businessman or tourist who is arrested in another country.  If the foreign country has your body, they don’t have to give you up, no matter what efforts our government makes on your behalf (short of invasion, at least).  The American hikers who are in custody in Iran are learning that lesson the hard way.

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