Cruise Ship Law

Cruise ships' crime reporting examined
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI)

The U.S. Congress is looking into the cruise ship industry and how it handles crimes at sea.

Victims of shipboard crimes want lawmakers to regulate the industry and its response to crime, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

Cruise ship companies say increased regulation isn't necessary.

"A person on a cruise is many times safer than a person on land in the United States," Royal Caribbean spokesman Michael Sheehan told the Times.

But the newspaper reported there is little consensus on what to do about crime in international waters, and industry critics say cruise ships don't adequately report shipboard crimes to authorities in U.S. ports.

Industry executives told a House subcommittee that from 2003 to 2005, 178 passengers on North American cruises reported being sexually assaulted, 24 people went missing and four others were robbed, the Times said. Royal Caribbean Cruises accounted for 66 of the 178 reports of sexual assaults.

Documents obtained by the Times said at least 273 people told Royal Caribbean they had been the victims of sexual assault, battery, harassment and inappropriate touching during an even shorter time period. Royal Caribbean said it only testified about the most serious reports.

Our maritime lawyers uncovered the following facts during the handling of some cruise ship rape cases:

1) A major cruise lines combined fleet has approximately 2 reports of sexual assaults or rapes per hundred thousand passengers. Statistically it should be kept in mind that these passengers are not on the vessel but for a short period of time, which makes comparison of these statistics to shore side sexual assaults and rapes difficult.

2) A major cruise lines had reports of 99 sexual assaults or rapes in a five year period.

3) Another major cruise lines had reports of 173 sexual assaults or rapes in a five year period. None of the 173 sexual assault or rape reports resulted in a single prosecution which is why it is so important to get help.

4) Yet another major cruise line has reports of having 2 rapes or sexual assaults per month on each of it's ships.

5) One cruise line has a risk management team dedicated to handling only rape and sexual assault claims. They have a full-time staff just for cruise rapes and sexual assaults. One has to wonder why the security department does not handle rape and sexual assault situations, but rather a risk management team.