ABSTRACT
This is a field of growing importance today as offenders frequently seek to avoid prosecution by leaving the State in which they committed an offence. The question arises as to how they are to be tried, since the State to which they flee has no jurisdiction to try the offence. The answer lies in extradition. By treaty, incorporated in local statute, States undertake to return or send offenders to the country that has jurisdiction. This is based on the principles of reciprocity and the Rule of Specialty. Reciprocity relates to the need for reciprocal legislation between the two countries that must also clarify which crimes are extraditable. The Rule of Specialty prohibits the receiving State from trying the returned offender for any offence other than that for which he was extradited.
