Resumen de Comparing the Machineries of Extradition: Between Functional and Cultural Approaches

Renaud Colson

• This Article aims to provide a comparison of three surrender schemes, namely international extradition, interstate rendition in the United States, and the European arrest warrant (EAW). If these three regimes fulfill the same function, they do so differently, using distinct terminology, relying on different legal sources, establishing separate procedures, and prioritizing the rights and powers of the actors involved along contrasting lines. A close survey of these variations highlights the existing gulf between these apparently similar techniques. It also provides a key to understanding these differences in light of the historical and political contexts in which extradition schemes are embedded. The comparison of extradition regimes opens a window onto the broader landscape, revealing competing ideologies and structural shifts at play in crime control policies. The evolution of surrender regimes illustrates the project of increased cooperation by which sovereigns, be they component states of a national federation or sovereign states in a transnational community, find ways to project their law enforcement power beyond their borders. It is noticeable in this respect that the EAW fits within a larger narrative traceable both in the United States and in the international community, which emphasizes the need for more intensive interactions between criminal justice systems to tackle the mobility of criminals and the growth of cross-border crime. This widely shared project, which ties together the local, the regional, and the transnational in the fight against criminality, confirms that the focus on state-based legal orders which dominates mainstream comparative law may not be enough to grasp the current legal evolutions. With the decline of the significance of traditional geopolitical divisions, it is now also necessary to compare institutions belonging to legal systems of different levels (national, regional, international) and extradition regimes stand as excellent candidates for such an academic enterprise.