Sex Crime tops the list for Crimes reported on Cruise Lines

Crime seems to be high on the agenda of late especially so in the wake of the news that a collection of major Cruise Lines recently released Crime statistics revealing to the public. 

The statistics pointed to 237 alleged serious Crimes, which occurred on participating ships since 2011. Crimes included:

• Rape
• Theft
• Assault
• Kidnapping
• Homicide

The question is why did the Cruise Lines choose the release Crime data? First and foremost we must consider that the Cruise Lines involved voluntarily made the information public. This decision was made partly in response to claims of no quality source for Crime data. Moreover, its clear that it was also in advance of potential US federal legislation that would demand the statistics to be made public. Moreover, law firms in the US are already positioning themselves by making statements on the Internet.

The Cruise Lines involved insist that the statistics demonstrate the relative safety cruising overall, which is no doubt another reason for releasing the data. However, by revealing such data is opens up a potential can of worms, as it raises more questions like what crimes are not reported (especially sexual harassment)? Why were they not reported before? Why does the US federal legislation aim to set a mandate to release such data?

Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises and NCL (these Cruise Lines collectively carry 17+ million passengers a year in North America) together reported:

• 99 serious crimes in 2011
• 88 in 2012
• 50 so far this year

For those in the industry, not surprisingly Sex crimes were the most commonly reported incidents, with 70 rapes and 58 other sexual assaults among the total allegations.