What Americans need to know before traveling overseas, according to legal analyst weighs
HOUSTON - Last week in a FOX 26 exclusive, we brought you the story of a Houston woman arrested in Dubai and charged with screaming in public. It's sparked the conversation about what Americans need to know before traveling abroad.
"That advice, don't leave America, acting like an American, is absolutely good advice," said Senior Legal Analyst Chris Tritico.
Tritico says in a foreign country it doesn't matter if you didn't know or didn't have the intent to commit a crime, what matters is that you did.
"Here you have to prove that you intended to violate the law in most circumstances. But in other countries, for example, Thailand spitting on the sidewalk is a crime and if you do that, you're going to get arrested and go to jail. You didn't have to know," Tritico explained.
Many Americans learn this the hard way, like 29-year-old Tierra Allen, a Houston woman whose been detained in Dubai for two months now.
Allen is charged with "screaming in public," a crime that could lead to time in prison.
"The Middle East is a very Draconian place, especially for women. So, if you're going to travel in a place like the Middle East, and you're a woman, know that, and know you can't go over there and act like you do in the U.S." Tritico said.
As minuscule as her offense may seem, Tritico says there's nothing the U.S. government can do to get her off the hook.
"You're subject to the law of that country and the United States can't just come in and say we're the United States, let our people go," Tritico explained.
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Many people see the high-profile efforts to secure the freedom of people detained overseas, like Brittney Griner for example, and they think those same efforts will happen for every American. But there are hundreds of Americans detained across the globe whose stories never make headlines.
"They were taken for political reasons, so politics got them out. There are other Americans that were not detained for political reasons, and they're still detained in Russia, two different things. When you go to a foreign country, and you violate their law, the U.S. is not going to go in there and say don't use your own criminal process," Tritico said.
Tritico also stressed the importance of knowing the laws of the country you are traveling to. You can learn more about laws in different countries by clicking here.