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Extradition, process by which one state, upon the request of another, surrenders a person for trial and punishment for a crime punishable by the laws of the requesting state and committed outside the requested state. This request by the receiving state differentiates extradition from other measures for the forcible removal of undesirable persons, such as banishment, expulsion, and deportation.
Extradition owes its existence to the principle of territoriality of criminal law, according to which a state does not apply its penal statutes to acts committed outside its own boundaries except in the protection of special national interests. In view of the solidarity of nations in the repression of criminality, however, states are usually willing to cooperate in bringing a perpetrator to justice lest he go unpunished.
Extradition is regulated within countries by extradition acts and between countries by diplomatic treaties. Belgium passed the first act in 1833. The purpose of such acts is to specify extraditable crimes, clarify the procedures and safeguards used to extradite, 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 the absence of a treaty or in matters not regulated in the treaties. Germany and Switzerland extradite apart from a formal convention so long as their governments and the requesting state have exchanged declarations of reciprocity. In general, the majority of nations grant extradition even in the absence of binding international obligations.
Although the conditions of extradition vary greatly, some principles are common to many countries. Most states decline any obligation to surrender their own nationals. West 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. The characterization of an offense as political, however, is subject to widely divergent definitions.
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.
