Extradition is the official process by which one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties. Between sub-national regions (for example, the individual states of the U.S.), where extradition is required by law it is more accurately known as rendition.
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Extradition is the official process by which one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties. Between sub-national regions (for example, the individual states of the U.S.), where extradition is required by law it is more accurately known as rendition.
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International Extradition Law
Extradition - ĕkstrədĭshˈən, delivery of a person, suspected or convicted of a crime, by the state where he has taken refuge to the state that asserts jurisdiction over him. Its purpose is to prevent criminals who flee a country from escaping punishment. Extradition first became a common policy in the 19th cent. International law does not recognize extradition as
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Extradition - ĕkstrədĭshˈən, delivery of a person, suspected or convicted of a crime, by the state where he has taken refuge to the state that asserts jurisdiction over him. Its purpose is to prevent criminals who flee a country from escaping punishment. Extradition first became a common policy in the 19th cent. International law does not recognize extradition as an obligation in the absence of a treaty, and although a state may, as a matter of courtesy, refuse asylum to a fugitive and honor a request for extradition, virtually all extradition takes place under the authority of bilateral treaties. The provisions of each nation's treaties may differ greatly from those of another, and it should be noted that some treaties are formulated so that a nation is not obligated to extradite. Extradition treaties agreed to by the United States require evidence that would show the accused to have violated the laws of both the United States and the demanding country. Moreover extradition can occur only for an offense that has been named in the treaty. In common with many other nations, the United States will not surrender a fugitive wanted for a political crime. American treaties generally provide that U.S. nationals will be surrendered for trial in a foreign country. In contrast to the United States and Great Britain, most nations of the European Continent will surrender a fugitive upon simple demand and will try their own nationals domestically for crimes committed abroad. The U.S. Congress, pursuant to Article 4, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution, has established a uniform law of extradition between the states, known as interstate rendition. This law provides that any person properly charged is subject to extradition regardless of the nature of the crime. Although the states normally comply with extradition demands, the Supreme Court has held that they have the right to refuse compliance.
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Principles of extradition law
Since there are numerous provisions which deal with extradition, each case has to be considered individually and according to the applicable provisions. However, there are six basic principles which are common to most extradition laws.
3.1 Influence of nationality on extradition
Many States apply the principle of not extraditing their own nationals. In such cases, a State may undertake to place its nationals on trial under the conditions laid down in its own laws, in application of the principle 'Aut tradere, aut judicare' (either extradite or judge).
3.2 Nature of the extraditable offence
It is an accepted principle in international extradition law that political offences may not give rise to extradition. Since no precise definition of a political offence exists in international law, it is up to the requested country to determine whether a given offence is political. In the case of more complex offences (offences which are ordinary law crimes by nature but inspired by political motives), the current tendency is to restrict the definition of a political offence and to allow extradition (see, for example, the European Convention on the suppression of terrorism, which includes a list of offences that, for extradition purposes, are not to be considered as political offences). In addition, whereas earlier treaties contained lists of extraditable offences, more recent treaties define extraditable offences in general terms, according to their gravity and to the penalty which may be incurred (for example, minimum duration of a prison sentence).
3.3 'Double criminality'
According to this principle, extraditable offences are only those which are punishable offences in the requesting State, and would have been punishable in the requested State if committed there. By extension of this principle, extradition may be refused if the time limit for prosecution in the requested State has expired. This principle is gradually losing ground.
3.4 'Non bis in idem'
In application of this principle, extradition must be refused if the individual whose extradition is requested has already been tried for the same offence. However, if the individual has been pardoned, he may - under the terms of some recent extradition treaties - be tried again.
3.5 Specificity
According to this principle, the person whose extradition has been requested may only be prosecuted, tried or detained for those offences which provided grounds for extradition or those committed subsequent to extradition. If an individual has been extradited in application of a judgment, only the penalty imposed by the decision for
which extradition was granted may be enforced. The principle of speciality means that an individual may only be tried for the offences cited in the extradition request, on the basis of the definition of the offences applicable at that time. If the requesting State discovers, subsequent to extradition, that offences had been committed prior to that date and those offences should give rise to prosecution, it may ask the requested State for authorization to prosecute the extradited person for the new offences (this constitutes a request for extension of extradition).
3.6 Capital punishment
If the requested State does not apply the death penalty to its own nationals who are to stand trial, or if it does not carry out the death penalty even though it is one of the penalties that may be applicable, the requested State may refuse extradition if the person whose extradition is requested is likely to be sentenced to death in the requesting State. However, extradition may be granted if the requesting State provides sufficient assurance that the death penalty will not be carried out.
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