This article is from: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/04/23/pirates.us.prosecution/index.html
On Friday, 11 suspected pirates arrived in the U.S to face criminal charges prosecution for attacks on U.S Navy ships near Somalia. The U.S flew the suspected pirates from East Asia to Norfolk, Virginia to face the prosecution in the federal courts.
So far, there has been 11 pirates that are charged with piracy under the laws of the nations, for "attack to plunder a vessel, assault with a dangerous weapon in the special maritime jurisdiction, conspiracy to use firearms during a crime of violence, and use of a firearm during a crime of violence, according to court filings."
The pirates have been indicted on a series of charges and the suspects are expected to appear before "federal magistrate in Norfolk on Friday."
What do you guys think about piracy? What do you think are appropriate punishments for piracy?
Newsworthy on this Wednesday Afternoon
3 hours ago
10 comments:
I think the government's policy on piracy should be more uptight and regulated. Although I don't exactly know what kind of ships the pirates use to board other vessels, the government around Somalia should at the very least have a license or something to see who's boat it belongs to. The owner of a stolen boat should probably report that their boat was stolen in the first place instead of shrugging it off as being lost in the sea.
Though I think your situation is ideal, I don't know how realistic it is Amos. I think piracy, or any overseas stuff, is really hard to regulate because (at the sake of sounding really obvious) the ocean is just so large, and a majority of it is not being used, so why/the incentive for poor governments, such as Somalia, to spend money to regulate it. Also, they may simply not have the resources. The same thing goes for boats that get stolen. Though it would be ideal for the government to try and find stolen or pirated ships, the waters are so great that they do not have the resources to find stolen ships, nor is the incentive that great. However, I do agree that those government should be more organized with ownership of boats and such.
I'm going to attempt to answer Sandy's question regarding why the government should regulate the ocean.
I'm going to assume here that you are referring to commerce...but if not, then I'm confused. If you are referring to commerce, it's part of the Constitution's Commerce clause that the federal government can regulate commerce, including international trade. Since these actions are threatened by piracy, I understand why the governments are intervening. They're trying to protect their trade routes.
Sandy, I am not understanding why Somalia needs to regulate missing vessels. These pirates are local Somali fisherman, ex-militiamen, and technical experts. The Somali fisherman are used as the brains in the pirate operation because of their knowledge of the sea. The ex-militiamen are the fighters and the technical experts use the GPS and other gadgets in which they may need. Regulating "missing" ships would not make sense. Then, the government would have to regulate every ship that goes out for fishing.
Partly, I think it is the United States' fault because Somalia is known for their pirates. It makes no sense to keep the USS Nicholas and the USS Ashland near the coast of Somalia and Kenya. Although most of the pirates reside in a small section known as Puntland, east Somalia, pirates buy most of their weapons at Mogadishu. Mogadishu is the capital of Somalia, and also very close to the border of Kenya and Somalia. With this knowledge, I probably would not deploy my ships near the capital where black market weapons are sold.
Although pirates have their own culture and customs, I think they provide a "clear and present danger", so there should be negative consequences.
Pirates continue to appear even when there is U.S. presence around Somalia. Another way (that is currently used) to prevent pirates from attacking cargo ships around Somalia is to hire personal bodyguards, who are trained gunmen. However, most companies do not hire personal bodyguards because they are expensive. It seems to me that all the ways imaginable to prevent pirate attacks always come out to be expensive.
I think it is a good idea to deploy U.S. ships near Somalia because there are many cargo ships that pass that area. Without the protection of U.S. ships, a lot of pirates will be able to hijack cargo ships, and they will hold the hostages for ransom. It's a good thing the ransom never exceeds the value of the cargo.
To answer Amos, Somalia pirates usually use motor boats.
One of the reasons why piracy on the open seas is a major problem is because most civilian ships are not armed. One simple solution would to keep up a military presence in the areas where piracy is rampant, but the United States does not have the resources to do so.
One solution is to arm ships traveling in areas with high rates of piracy. Whether it is guards with assault rifles, or non-lethal weapons, ships that seem to be well guarded will be left alone by the pirates.
~Victor H
Since I'm going to sympathize with the fishermen here a little, I would just stick with the LRAD. It seems to be the only effective non-lethal deterrent to keep the pirates at bay. Remember that it's the rampant poverty that forced them to do this.
Jodi, I agreed that the waters should be regulated, but I just don't know how they could because of the little resources and money they have to regulate them well. However, I still think it would be much better to protect trade and stufff. It's just a matter of if the government can.
Yoda, I think what Amos and I mean by finding missing/stolen boats, (sorry if i'm putting words in your mouth Amos), is that that way, the government can have a bettter account of what is going on in the water. That way, if a boat gets stolen, perhaps by pirates, then the government can keeep a watch over them. Perhpas the each boat should have licenced and the government should keep watch over bigger boats, that are more at risk to be pirated. However, like I said earlier, I don't think it's realistic, for the reason that Yoda said, the are just way too many boats and fishermen, and not enough resources.
I personally think that signing into a logging system for the government to know when you're out in sea does not seem too effective. Furthermore, it is not the government's responsibility to guard a civilians ship. Instead, the government is there to punish those who trespass or commit a crime.
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