The Prisoner Exchange Rate: Data Analysis of Cooperation on Extradition

• In Event: Alliance Politics in an Era of Change

Abstract

In a globalized world with high mobility and growing trans-national crime networks, the use of extradition in international cooperation among states has become increasingly common. Yet there is surprisingly little academic research to explain this trend. Indeed, there are no systematic studies in the political science literature that explain why and when countries engage in this type of international cooperation. This paper examines the available data on U.S. extraditions, both as a sending and a receiving country, in an effort to identify the factors that lead to greater use of extradition as a tool in U.S. foreign policy international cooperation. While extradition laws were generated in the 1970s primarily as a tool to combat terrorism, the authors hypothesize that geographic proximity and U.S. law enforcement priorities in the war on drugs are a major driver of the use of extradition. Using a mixed-method approach and a unique dataset of international extraditions to and from the United States obtained from the U.S. Marshals service, the authors identify the major trends in U.S. extradition, including the top sending countries and the primary offenses that are prioritized by the United States as a receiving country.  The authors find significant variation in the use of international extradition as a crime fighting tool, though the results generally confirm a preponderance of focus on drugs (not terrorism) in the use of international extradition. 

Authors

• Emily Edmonds-Poli, University of San Diego

• David A. Shirk, University of San Diego