Cruise Ship Rape?

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Lew

Your statement is partially true. A cruise ship does not have to report a case of rape to the FBI on return to the USA because the ship is not registered in the USA.

Extract from http://cruiseshiplawsuits.blogspot.com/2007/11/carnival-cruise-ship-rape-attorneys.html

"In an unusual view of crime on board the countryâ€™s cruise liners, rape cases and all, Carnival Cruise Lines admitted in legal discovery pleadings filed with the court in 1999 that crew members had been accused of sexually assaulting cruise liner passengers as well as fellow workers while aboard its cruise ships 62 times in a five-year period. Up to 1999 that was a rate of nearly once a month.

These statistics were the first public disclosure by a cruise any line company about the total number of alleged rapes and sexual assault on cruise ship vacations. Cruise ship industry officials in the past stated that cruises were safe, but there no statistics on rapes and the like because cruise ships are registered in foreign ports where there are no requirements to report rape to U.S. law enforcement authorities."

Extract from: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070327/cruise_safety_070327/20070327?hub=TopStories

"The problem is that many crimes are committed on cruises while the ships are traveling outside the 20-kilometre-wide U.S. territorial limits. The vast majority of ships fly under foreign flags, such as the Bahamas or Panama, and therefore aren't under U.S. jurisdiction once they leave U.S. waters.

What's more, U.S. authorities can't often board the ships without permission.

"The jurisdiction issue is very tricky and a tangled web," Salvador Hernandez, a deputy assistant director at the FBI, told the committee.

While Dishman's case was at least considered by the FBI, an expert on cruises points out that a Canadian victim likely would not receive the same treatment.

"As Canadians we think we're going to be treated the same as Americans, but unfortunately we're not," Professor Ross Klein of Newfoundland's Memorial University told CTV News. "And if (a crime were to) happen, we would be left on our own."

Cruise lines are not required to report a crime, and Canadian authorities are unlikely to be able to prosecute one in any case. That, according to a legal expert, leaves one option:

"Report it to the authorities at the next port of call," George Strathy, a Toronto lawyer specializing in maritime and transportation law, told CTV News.

"I would also make sure the captain was aware of the crime."

From the same article.

Cruise ship operators announced they had come to a voluntary new agreement with the FBI and the Coast Guard to improve and standardize crime reporting.

Under the agreement, cruise lines would immediately report violations of U.S. law outside U.S. waters.

Several lawmakers praised the steps but suggested crime reporting should be mandatory, not voluntary.

Cruise industry executives testified to Congress last year that Royal Caribbean reported 66 cases of sexual assault between 2003 and 2005. Documents released in connection with a civil lawsuit show that number was actually much higher, over 250,

If you want to verify your statement, just search "cruise ship rape" and "cruise ship crime".

Although the situation is getting better, it's not impoving fast enough and people who are considering cruising should be aware that any crime committed to their person or property is likely to be summarily investigated by cruise ship staff and then ignored.

Amanda S

NO as far as i know this is not true!
i have been on many cruises and nothing has ever happened to anyone
they have guard and cameras everywhere and lots of security

it is also in the hand book and papers that guests signed that laws broken or crimes commited will be dealt with under the next port of calls goverment and laws

Andy

Maritime law has jurisdiction in International waters. The biggest problem is that crimes tend not to be reported immediately after they occur. When this is the case, the jurisdiction falls to the country in whose waters the crime was committed. If the ship leaves the waters in which the crime was committed, then all the cruiseline can do is to notify the authorities in the country who owns the waters where the crime was committed and I guess it's up to the victim to return to that country and file charges. It's a bit of mess. But having been on 8 cruises, I think one is safer on the ship than they are in any major city. Probably the biggest crime is theft. As for the liners covering up crime statistics, who really knows? Check out the article below.

Telly B

NO that isn't true what-so-ever. they willll be prosecuted. trust me.

Liz

I would think that the government of whatever country who's waters the ship is in would have jurisdiction....and then they would possibly transfer the case over to the country that the involved people are residents of.

Dan

RapeAdvocate, a rapist on a cruise ship can be prosecuted. In the old days before steam, a rapist would just be "lost at sea."

There are a lot of men who deal with rapist themselves without regard to the jurisdiction and lawyers. You do not want to mess with one of these guys when you are raping a woman, as you will just disappear.

Find Your Fangs

are you planning a rape?

well i'll be sure not to go on a cruise from here on out.

you're very offensive. get off of the internet.

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