 What motivates people like Zeckler to commit such crimes as he committed?
"You've committed the most heinous crime these creatures can imagine, and they're going to get you for it if it's the last thing they do. Trading brought scalpers; it was almost inevitable that where rich and unexploited trading ground was uncovered, it would first fall prey to the fast-trading boys. The first men in were the richest out, and through some curious quirk of the Terrestrial mind, they knew they could count on Terran protection, however crooked and underhand their methods. But occasionally a situation arose where the civilization and social practices of the alien victims made it unwise to tamper with them. You'd have found out that they're marsupials, and that two out of five of them get thrown out of their mother's pouch before they're old enough to survive. You'd have realized that they have to start fighting for individual rights almost as soon as they're born. They've built up the most confusing and impossible system of barter and trade imaginable, aimed at individual survival, with land as the value behind the credit. Lying is the time-honored tradition, with their entire legal system built around it." They have only the haziest idea what truth represents, and they've shrugged off the idea as impossible and useless." Encroachment on private property is legal grounds for murder on this planet, and twelve of them descended on the same chunk of land at the same time, all armed with title-deeds." They think it's a big joke—after all, what could a judicial oath mean to them?—but they agreed. Loud, harsh voices were heard as half a dozen of the huge Altairians attempted to push through the door at once. Finally the question of precedent seemed to be settled, and a group of the Altairians filed in, in order of stature, stalking across the room in flowing black robes, pug-nosed faces glowering with self-importance. Two small fights broke out in the rear, but were quickly subdued by the group of gendarmes guarding the entrance. Finally the judge glared down at Zeckler with all three eyes, and pounded the bench top with a wooden mallet until the roar of activity subsided. "We are reading the case of the people of Altair I," the judge's voice roared out, "against one Harry Zeckler—" he paused for a long, impressive moment—"Terran." Four separate and distinct charges of jail-break and bribery—" The judge pounded the bench for order—"Espionage with the accursed scum of Altair II in preparation for interplanetary invasion."
 New interplanetary laws created more incentive to commit crimes in vulnerable areas than they offered protection from such crimes.
 New interplanetary laws created more incentive to commit crimes in vulnerable areas than they offered protection from such crimes.  Representatives from the Trading Commission set up an operation to hire and arrest con men in order to secure resources without being indicted.  The interplanetary laws made it easy for wealthy corporations and entities to prey upon those they considered less civilized and intelligent.  The Trading Commission offered monetary compensation for whoever was willing to secure unexploited trading ground on neighboring planets.