Is it only rape that is unpunishable on a cruise ship?

[Womanland]

Italian teenager accused of raping British girl on cruise in international waters walks free on legal technicality

Just curious.... if I was to perform a heist on the casino of a cruise ship do the same rules ( or lack of) apply?

I just can't imagine how this poor girl is feeling.

I thought that the captain had jurisdiction at sea for serious crimes and ships of a certain size have cells on for this purpose.

On cruise critic, they say if an incident occurs more than twelve nautical miles off shore it has to be investigated/ tried in the country the ship is registered. It appears MSC are registered in Switzerland.

...Panama.

The article suggests that the ship is registered in Panama so it would be up t Panamanian authorities? Why is there any uncertainty about this though? There surely needs to be international agreement about who is responsible for investigating crimes aboard cruise ships. Given that rape and sexual assault are amongst the most common crimes committed on cruise ships and have been for some time, there is really no excuse for any ambiguity that allows perpetrators to walk free.

I think it has happened with missing people investigations too. I think there was a case where a woman went missing and because of the registration bit that Ripple mentioned, they said the police in the Bahamas had to investigate. I don’t think they are experienced in this area and so didn’t really do too much by the sounds of it. She is still missing - Rebecca Coriam.

As I understand it, if it's in the waters of a particular country then it's their jurisdiction l. If it's in international waters then it's governed by the country that the ship is registered to.
A lot of ships are registered to countries with low taxes and lax laws.

Given that cruise ships can be registered literally hundreds of miles from where the crime happens, police in the nearest country should be given powers to hold suspects until the relevant country investigates?

So what happens if a crime is committed on board an aircraft flying over international waters? Particularly if the criminal is of a different nationality to the airline?

So what happens if a crime is committed on board an aircraft flying over international waters? Particularly if the criminal is of a different nationality to the airline?

People get arrested all the time for rowdy behaviour on aircrafts. You often hear of police being called to meet planes when they land.

So why do different rules apply for ships and planes? Or rape and other (lesser) crimes?

Now the judge has called on British, Italian and Panamanian authorities to look into the allegation, according to Spanish media.