Extradition and Cross Border Criminal Defense News: Transnational Crime: The Business of Bribery

Resource of Note, PBS Front Line reports on Montesinos, BAE and more at the Business of Bribery.

January 2, 2010 - Second Anniversay

Editor's Note: We have Changed our Name!

As international enforcement and cooperation surges, extradition and cross border investigations are relevant to an increasing number of individuals and business people world wide.

Please stay with us as we enter a new decade. Please note that we will gradually merge our sister blog regarding immigration consequences as well as white collar criminal defense, cultural and linguistic issues and consular issues into this blog. If you have an article or case, which you believe would be of interest to fellow readers, please email the Editor at: lindaramirezatty@live.com

What is the Rule of Specialty?

The Specialty Doctrine is a firmly established principle of international law provides that a criminal defendant extradited from one nation to another may be prosecuted only for only those offenses for which the surrendering state agreed to extradite.

In other words, when a nation hands over an accused for trial on specified charges, both the surrendering and requesting nation are implicitly agreeing that the accused will not be prosecuted on other, unspecified offenses for which the surrendering nation did not agree to extradite.

The surrendering nation is ceding personal jurisdiction over the defendant only with respect to the charges on which he or she was extradited, and an American court cannot force a defendant to face additional charges.

Extradition Law Basics for Criminal Defense Lawyers

Criminal defense attorneys will discover that extradition law issues have an increasing relevance to their practice. Not infrequently, foreign nationals who have criminal charges pending abroad are found and arrested in the United States for extradition. Similarly, a growing number of the foreign nationals who are being prosecuted in American courts have been brought to the United States through the extradition process.

Defending an Extradition from the United States (Part I).

Generally, in the absence of an extradition treaty, there is no duty to extradite. The extradition of an alleged criminal from within the United States to a foreign country is governed by the relevant extradition treaty, the procedures as set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 3181 et seq, and principles of customary international law. The extradition treaty, as a duly ratified treaty entered into by the United States, is federal law pursuant to U.S. CONST. art. VI. § 2. “Each extradition treaty between the United States and a foreign nation is sui generis, and as a contract between two sovereigns, sets forth its own law.” It is essential for counsel to have an accurate copy of the relevant extradition treaty, and any protocols that may have amended the original treaty or extradition convention. Each extradition treaty has been negotiated separately, some treaties are much older than others, and each treaty may be worded differently. For a list of all treaties in force, see http://www.state.gov/s/l/treaty/treaties

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Transnational Crime: The Business of Bribery

January 2, 2010 - Second Anniversay

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