EXTRADITION

process by which one state, upon the request of another, effects the return of a person for trial for a crime punishable by the laws of the requesting state and committed outside the state of refuge. The request itself distinguishes extradition from other measuressuch as banishment, expulsion, and deportationfor the forcible removal of undesirable persons. According to the principle of territoriality of criminal law, a state does not apply its penal statutes to acts committed outside its boundaries except in the protection of special national interests. In view of the solidarity of nations in the repression of crime, however, states are usually willing to cooperate in bringing a criminal to justice. Extradition is regulated within countries by extradition acts and between countries by diplomatic treaties. Belgium passed the first act in 1833. Such acts specify extraditable crimes, clarify the procedures and safeguards, and stipulate the relationship between the act and international treaties. The laws of the various nations differ greatly as to the relationship between acts and treaties. In the United States, extradition must fall under the provisions of a treaty as long as Congress has not legislated to the contrary. This is also the case in England, Belgium, and The Netherlands. On the other hand, the French extradition act has application on its own terms, in matters not regulated in treaties. Germany and Switzerland extradite apart from a formal convention so long as their governments and the requesting state have exchanged declarations of reciprocity. Most nations grant extradition even in the absence of binding international obligations. Some principles of extradition are common to many countries. Most states decline any obligation to surrender their own nationals. Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Switzerland prohibit such extradition. In Argentina, England, and the United States, nationals may be extradited only if the governing treaty authorizes it. Another common principle is that of double criminality, under which extradition will be barred unless it is for an offense punishable in the surrendering state. Countries also generally recognize the right of asylum for political offenders. Under the principle of speciality, surrender is made on condition that the requesting state not convict or punish the individual for any crime different from that for which he was extradited. This protection may be waived by the extraditing state.