Extradition of transnational criminals

Rather than creating new processes to facilitate cross-border cooperation, the effort to suppress transnational crimes relies largely upon various pre-existing extradition arrangements, with extradition being one of the oldest forms of inter-state cooperation in the criminal law field.¹ Its continuing availability, with or without the ‘extradition’ label,² reflects the fact that: ‘As movement about the world becomes easier and crime takes on a larger international dimension, it is increasingly in the interests of all nations that suspected offenders who flee abroad should be brought to justice.’³ It is also accepted that ‘the establishment of safe havens for fugitives would . . . result in danger for the State obliged to harbour the protected person[.]’⁴