Extradition

Extradition is the legal surrender of a fugitive to the jurisdiction of another state, country, or government for trial. It is an official process by which one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal. Extradition comes into play when a person charged with a crime under state statutes flees the state. An individual charged with a federal crime may be moved from one state to another without any extradition procedures.

The term extradition denotes a process whereby under treaty or upon a basis of reciprocity one state surrenders to another state at its request the person accused or convicted of a criminal offence committed against the laws of the requesting state, such requesting state being competent to try the alleged offender.

Types of Extradition Treaty

There are two types of extradition treaties

1. List Treaty: The most common and traditional is the list treaty, which contains a list of crimes for which a suspect will be extradited.
2. Dual criminality Treaty:  used since the 1980s, generally allows for extradition of a criminal suspect if the punishment is more than one year imprisonment in both countries.

Under both types of treaties, if the conduct is not a crime in both countries then it will not be an extraditable offense.
Purpose of the Extradition Treaty

a) No criminal should go unpunished
b) The Country does not have extra-territorial jurisdiction except in some serious offences.
c) It works as a warning for the criminals.
d) To remove crime from the society.
Essential conditions for extradition
i) The relevant crime is sufficiently serious.
ii) There exists a prima facie case against the individual sought.
iii) The event in question qualifies as a crime in both countries.
iv) The extradited person can reasonably expect a fair trial in the recipient country.
v) The likely penalty will be proportionate to the crime.