This is something I have wondered for some time now. What happens when you commit a crime on the high seas? Yes, I know ships are registered with different countries. But what if you are on a ship that is not registered with any country?
Also, is there any distinction made between victim and victimless crimes? What if you commit an act of prostitution on the high seas? And what about the penalties? How long would you be imprisoned for an act of prostitution? And where would you serve out your sentence?
Thank you,
Jim B.
[Now, that is my official question to Cecil Adams (just take away the brackets). What do the rest of you have to say:)?]
Pretty much no such thing. Sure you could build your own rowboat, never register it, launch it, & head out to sea. But you’ve already violated various local laws on vessel registry by doing so. So they can hunt you down & enforce that. Plus enforce against whatever else they find you up to when they intercept you.
Fun fact : gambling for money is strictly regulated (and taxed) in Hong Kong… but it’s a tiny island, so it’s very easy to find taxi boats to take you to the barges & cruise ships sitting juuust outside the territorial waters, where smiling bookies and mahjong-tile sharps will welcome you with open arms.
Well, you’re not going to be docking that boat in any country’s harbor without proper paperwork.
What you are describing would essentially be a pirate vessel. If it interfered with any properly-registered vessel, or committed a crime against someone else in any nation’s waters, you’d probably be meeting the relevant navy or coast guard up close and personal (such as the Somali pirate currently in prison in Indiana after being captured by the U.S. Navy off the coast of Kenya).
For a pirate vessel on the high seas, the captain’s word would probably be law. If he’s okay with prostitution, no problem; if he’s not, you get to walk the plank
Trivial nitpick: Actually, pirate ships were notably egalitarian. The captain was the sailing master, and had considerable authority on matters of navigation. But on other issues - whether to lay up for the winter and if so where; whether to attack a particularly lucrative but also particularly well-armed prize - there was a consensus model of decision-making. There had to be, since the effectiveness of the operation required individual buy-in from the crew members.
Whether women were allowed on board, or on what terms, would definitely be the kind of matter that the crew would take a collective position on. Answer, generally: only when in port. So no hanky-panky on the high seas. At least, not with girls.
I have heard that on many cruise ships sailing out of US ports that once they are out of US waters, out come all the drugs and unless the ship itself has a problem with them, they are ok.
Legally, not the case at all. The criminal law of the country in which the vessel is flagged will apply. In addition, if the vessel has sailed from a US port, US federal criminal law and the criminal law of the state concerned will also usually apply. So there are multiple jurisdictions under which drug offences could be charged.
Enforcement is another matter, of course. There usually aren’t any police officers on a ship, so detection and investigation of drug offences, and the building of a case that will stand up in a court, is hard to do. So in practical terms it may well be that the controls on behaviour are, basically, what the master and crew will tolerate.
Right, but I don’t really care about hijacking other boats. I just want a place for my harem.
Although there would be a multitude of other problems, of course; you might have to be outside the EEZ, which would make for a very long trip to get to the boat thing. There’d also be no safe port, so if a storm was coming, the boat (and passengers) would have to tough it out. Anyone who was leaving their country for the boat could be threatened with conspiracy to commit whatever crime they did commit once they got to international waters. And there probably wouldn’t be any way to enforce discipline and stop the project from becoming something out of Waterworld.
I think what the OP’s getting at is why someone can’t just buy an old cruise ship, register it somewhere like Liberia or Panama, name it the “Bang Barge” , fill up half the cabins with pre-paid hookers, and sell “all-inclusive” cruises around the Caribbean or Mediterranean, or wherever?
Would that be legal? Would the US have any jurisdiction outside of US territorial waters? Would the cruise patrons be breaking any laws? Would the crew (hookers, or otherwise)?
Or, register it in Iraq or Somalia or some other place where the government is in shambles and there is widespread violence on the streets in major cities. Sure, the prostitution, gambling, and narcotics operation on your Iraqi-registered ship are in violation of Iraqi law, but the Iraqi authorities have no money to investigate or prosecute you since they have ISIS on their doorstep threatening to destroy them. They need every penny for national defense, not chasing down victimless crimes thousands of miles away. Since the ship is registered in Iraq, you claim that the friendly neighborhood US Coast Guard cutter has no jurisdiction to board the ship and recommend that if they are concerned, they should call the Iraqi Coast Guard and ask for a cutter to come intercept for an investigation. But the Iraqi Coast Guard consists of a few octogenarian sailors who sing songs all day while debating whether or not to repaint the fleet, which consists of about four rowboats, two of which are at the bottom of the Persian Gulf, and one of which is more a partially-seaworthy buoy made of old “Vote Saddam 1995” signs nailed together than a useful rowboat. And, half of the sailors have threatened to join ISIS if they are forced to do any actual sailing.
In the late 1920s into the 1940s there use to be boats anchored 3 miles off the coast from Los Angeles used for casino style gamboling. It took about 10 to 15 but the boats were shut down through various legal and police actions. If you read old Raymond Chandler novels they imply there was prostitution on board as well.
I think that if you set up a Bang Barge operation and it became well known various countries would try to make it difficult for you to run that sort of business. Probably by arguing that the women involved were not really there of their free will and that some of them are minors.
The US has laws against sex tourism. Folks suspected of violations are arrested upon return to the US or later on when evidence comes to the Fed’s attention.
I don’t know whether they’d apply specifically to simple prostitution using adult-aged pros who are demonstrably on board of their own free will & practically speaking free to quit & leave the boat at any time.
But if you staffed it with e.g. 15 year old kids, the patrons would be in the shit when they got back. If the ship was off US shores and the Feds couldn’t figure out something to charge the ship operators with, some outraged Congress-critter could be counted upon to fix *that *little legislative gap within a year or so.
First of all, the US Coast Guard can and does intercept, board, search, and seize vessels on the high seas. So registering your ship in Somalia doesn’t mean only Somalian law enforcement has jurisdiction over you. If the Coast Guard thinks you’ve got a load of cocaine they don’t have to wait until you enter US waters, they can stop you on the high seas.
In other words, the Coast Guard will enforce Federal law. Note that we have lots of Federal laws against drugs, but very few against prostitution, this is how prostitution can be legal in the state of Nevada, because while the other 49 states have state laws against prostitution Nevada doesn’t, although many localities in Nevada (like Las Vegas) do have local laws against prostitution.
For the purposes of the discussion, let’s say that the recruiting of the crew and “entertainers” was all done above-board, through newspaper ads and legitimate interviews, references, etc… No roving press-gangs at Mardi Gras or anything like that, and everyone’s over 21, etc…
And let’s just say the ship’s registered out of Liberia, because it’s a major flag of convenience, and likely to have sub-standard regulation.
And I’m not positing that the ship would just sit right outside US waters off NYC or something; it would actually be a cruise, but with “entertainment”.
Not exactly major crimes here, but I distinctly remember nobody caring that I gambled (slot machines, video poker, etc.) in the casino on a cruise ship once we were in “international waters” when I was about 11 or 12. The staff also had zero qualms about pouring me a couple of glasses of wine at dinner, albiet with my parents’ approval. That said, I believe there are still state laws that allow minors to drink at dinner with their parents present, so that’s probably not that crazy.
Well that’s the thing. It was a “gay” adults-only cruise meaning some large homosexual group had rented out the whole boat so I’d guess as part of the negotiations, the crew agreed to ignore nearly everything.
