Question about U.S. International Extradition

[ThatNickGuy]

So I'm working on a new Dill adventure where this topic has reared its head. Without spoiling too much, a character who is a suspect for murder (possibly manslaughter) in China now lives in the U.S.

What does that mean, as far as extradition means? I've been reading a bit on extradition laws and it seems the U.S. doesn't have a treaty with China. Does that mean the person from China could live there without consequence or fear of being deported or extradited?

 

[Chad Sexington]

Is he a citizen of the US, or China? Or a third country? That is a factor in extradition. Not having an extradition treaty means the countries are not obliged to extradite, but agreements can be made to extradite. Some countries refuse to extradite nationals: for instance, France will not extradite Roman Polanski to the US because he is a citizen. These rules, as I understand it, supercede extradition treaties.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Originally Chinese citizen, though they would now be an American citizen, legally.

 

[Chad Sexington]

I would say barring some higher political bartering, there's no reason for the US to extradite a citizen to China. It would be heavily contested, and possibly illegal because of China's lack of human rights, viz. you could be so sure what he would go through would constitute 'cruel and unusual' punishment that extraditing him would not be an option.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Thanks, that's what I figured. Politics isn't my strong suit, though, so I thought I'd double check.

 

[PatrThom]

I suppose it mostly depends on whether or not the laws and such in your world are the same as the laws and such in ours. There's no reason they have to be, I guess.

--Patrick

 

[Bubble181]

I suppose it mostly depends on whether or not the laws and such in your world are the same as the laws and such in ours. There's no reason they have to be, I guess.

--Patrick

I was going to say this too. It's good that you're doing research to make it at least somewhat realistic, but unless you're going to do it 100% identical, don't get lost in the details...Because inevitably, you'll mess up something somwhere and a lawyer might start writing bad reviews because of "bad research". The world's different enough that it'd make sense for some rules to be different (for all I know, mutants aren't considered human in some countries, like black people were once upon a time...which would have an impact, of course)

That aside, yay, more Dill

 

[AshburnerX]

Yeah... politically speaking, America and China would never extradite a native citizen to each other, though America would probably make them serve time in an American prison if the case was strong enough. China would probably make them a national hero for shits and giggles.

But the situation you proposed? He's an America citizen, in America. Unless he hops a boat/plane to China (and we don't pull him in before he hits lands), he's going to American jail.