What is the link between extradition and mutual assistance?
Extradition is the process by which one country detains and delivers a person accused of committing a crime to a law enforcement agency of another country, so that the person may face criminal charges.
Mutual Assistance refers to the process of sharing evidence about criminal investigations or prosecutions between countries. The information gathered from such investigations can be used as the basis for an extradition request.
This article provides an overview of the numbers of extradition and mutual assistance requests made and received during the 2020–21 financial year, as outlined by the Attorney General’s Department in its annual report.
Extradition requests dealt with in 2020–21
Extradition requests made by Australia
During the reporting period Australia made nine new extradition requests to other countries, and nine persons were surrendered to Australia. The report details the countries that surrendered people to Australia and the citizenship of these people.
Countries that surrendered people to Australia
| Country | Number of people surrendered |
| Italy | 1 |
| Netherlands | 2 |
| Thailand | 2 |
| United Kingdom | 3 |
| Israel | 1 |
Citizenship of people surrendered to Australia
| Citizenship | Number of people surrendered |
| British | 3 |
| Australian | 4 |
| Israeli | 1 |
| Colombian | 2 |
Extradition requests made to Australia
Australia received 29 new extradition requests during the period, and 10 persons were surrendered.
Countries to which people were surrendered by Australia
| Country | Number of people surrendered |
| United States of America | 3 |
| United Kingdom | 5 |
| Ireland | 1 |
| Poland | 1 |
Citizenship of people surrendered by Australia
| Citizenship | Number of people surrendered |
| American | 1 |
| British | 4 |
| Irish | 2 |
| Australian | 4 |
| Chinese | 1 |
| Polish | 1 |
Note: As some of these people held dual nationality, the numbers total more than the number of people surrendered.
The major categories of offences for which people were surrendered by Australia include manslaughter, sexual assault, burglary, child sex offences, fraud, and drug offences.
Mutual assistance requests dealt with in 2020–21
Mutual assistance requests made by Australia
| Active requests at start of period | 369 |
| New requests made/requests reopened | 196 |
| Requests finalised | 209 |
| Active requests at end of period | 360 |
Mutual assistance requests made to Australia
| Active requests at start of period | 342 |
| New requests made/requests reopened | 376 |
| Requests finalised | 388 |
| Active requests at end of period | 355 |
Comparative statistics for extradition and mutual assistance cases
The report provides comparative statistics from 2011-12 onwards which show the trends of extradition and mutual assistance requests over time.
