When the FBI Seeks Extradition…®

EXTRADITION TREATY LAW AND PROCEDURE


Extradition by Treaty or Legislative Authorization

Aside from a limited class of cases authorized as part of the 1996 antiterrorism bill, the authority to extradite an individual from the United States to a foreign country is governed by the existence of a treaty with the foreign government seeking extradition (Title 18 U.S.C. § 3181(a)). Enacted in 1948, this statutory provision simply codified a prior Supreme Court holding stating, "while a government may … voluntarily exercise the power to surrender a fugitive from justice to the country from which he has fled … the legal right to demand his extradition and the correlative duty to surrender him to the demanding country exist only when created by treaty."