National Solutions To An International Scourge: Prosecuting Piracy Domestically As A Viable Alternative To International Tribunals

This article will assess both the problems and potential solutions to contemporary seaborne threats of piracy, robbery, and terrorism, and discuss challenges and opportunities for the domestic and international forums prosecuting the crimes that constitute piracy and maritime terrorism. In particular it will begin with a discussion of the (d)evolution of events in the late 20th Century, which has transformed the old problem of piracy into a modern scourge. Piratical tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP) gave rise to a distinctly different threat from that faced in the past. Accompanying this discussion is a survey of present-day piracy, followed by an analysis of why piratical activities are more susceptible now than ever before to the long arm of the law, especially, but not exclusively, domestic prosecution, as well as anti-piracy policies.

The article will advance reasons for why domestic, rather than international, prosecution will be the prevailing remedy of choice when dealing with captured pirates. Concluding comments will note why it is likely that present and emergent anti-piracy activities will continue to expand across the spectrum of operations, and summarize the challenges and opportunities for the domestic and international forces preventing piracy, those capturing pirates, and the fora prosecuting the crimes that constitute piracy and maritime terrorism.