Carnival Cruise Lines Revises Sexual Assault Figures

A lawyer representing Carnival Cruise Lines announced yesterday that more incidents of sexual assault and sexual misconduct have occurred on the company's ships than was previously reported.

Two weeks ago, the company announced that 62 incidents of sexual assault and sexual misconduct had been reported on its ships during August 1993 and August 1998. The revised number, gained through a more detailed search of the company's records, is 108. Company officials said the additional incidents mostly involved unwanted touching, kissing, and inappropriate sexual advances.

Carnival released the two sets of figures after a Miami-Dade County judge and a state appellate court ordered the company to do so. The court orders were issued as part of a lawsuit brought by a former employee who alleged that she was raped and sodomized by an officer on a Carnival ship. Carnival's internal investigation of the incident concluded that the sexual act was consensual, while a federal grand jury in Miami indicted the alleged rapist on charges of aggravated sexual assault.

Media Resources: New York Times - July 29, 1999

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