Criminal Justice Act 1988
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1988 c. 33 |
Criminal Justice Act 1988
1988 CHAPTER 33
An Act to make fresh provision for extradition; to amend the rules of evidence in criminal proceedings; to provide for the reference by the Attorney General of certain questions relating to sentencing to the Court of Appeal; to amend the law with regard to the jurisdiction and powers of criminal courts, the collection, enforcement and remission of fines imposed by coroners, juries, supervision orders, the detention of children and young persons, probation and the probation service, criminal appeals, anonymity in cases of rape and similar cases, orders under sections 4 and 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 relating to trials on indictment, orders restricting the access of the public to the whole or any part of a trial on indictment or to any proceedings ancillary to such a trial and orders restricting the publication of any report of the whole or any part of a trial on indictment or any such ancillary proceedings, the alteration of names of petty sessions areas, officers of inner London magistrates' courts and the costs and expenses of prosecution witnesses and certain other persons; to make fresh provision for the payment of compensation by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board; to make provision for the payment of compensation for a miscarriage of justice which has resulted in a wrongful conviction; to create an offence of torture and an offence of having an article with a blade or point in a public place; to create further offences relating to weapons; to create a summary offence of possession of an indecent photograph of a child; to amend the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 in relation to searches, computer data about fingerprints and bail for persons in customs detention; to make provision in relation to the taking of body samples by the police in Northern Ireland; to amend the Bail Act 1976; to give a justice of the peace power to authorise entry and search of premises for offensive weapons; to provide for the enforcement of the Video Recordings Act 1984 by officers of a weights and measures authority and in Northern Ireland by officers of the Department of Economic Development; to extend to the purchase of easements and other rights over land the power to purchase land conferred on the Secretary of State by section 36 of the Prison Act 1952; and for connected purposes.
[29th July 1988]
B e it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Extradition
Preliminary
1 Scope of Part I.
(1) Where extradition procedures under this Part of this Act are available as between the United Kingdom and a foreign state, a person in the United Kingdom who—
(a) is accused in that state of the commission of an extradition crime; or
(b) is alleged to be unlawfully at large after conviction of an extradition crime by a court in that state,
may be arrested and returned to that state in accordance with those procedures.
(2) In this Part of this Act—
‘extradition procedures’ means the procedures set out in sections 3 to 10 and 12 to 17 below; and
‘extradition arrangements’ means arrangements made with a foreign state under which extradition procedures will be available as between the United Kingdom and that state.
(3) Extradition arrangements may be—
(a) arrangements of a general nature made with one or more states and relating to the operation of this Part of this Act (in this Part of this Act referred to as ‘general extradition arrangements’); or
(b) arrangements relating to the operation of this Part of this Act in particular cases (in this Part of this Act referred to as ‘special extradition arrangements’) made with a state with which there are no general extradition arrangements.
(4) In this Part of this Act ‘foreign state’ means any state other than—
(a) the United Kingdom;
(b) a country mentioned in Schedule 3 to the British Nationality Act 1981 (countries whose citizens are Commonwealth citizens);
(c) a colony of the United Kingdom; or
(d) the Republic of Ireland,
but a state which is a party to the European Convention on Extradition done at Paris on 13th December 1957 may be treated as a foreign state for the purposes of this Part of this Act.
(5) In this Part of this Act ‘extradition crime’ means—
(a) conduct in the territory of a foreign state which, if it occurred in the United Kingdom, would constitute an offence punishable with imprisonment for a term of 12 months, or any greater punishment, and which, however described in the law of the foreign state, is so punishable under that law; or
(b) any conduct which by virtue of subsection (8)(b) below is treated as conduct in the territory of a foreign state and which satisfies the conditions in paragraph (a) above; or
(c) an extra-territorial offence against the law of a foreign state which is punishable under that law with imprisonment for a term of 12 months, or any greater punishment, and which satisfies—
(i) the condition specified in subsection (6) below; or
(ii) all the conditions specified in subsection (7) below.
(6) The condition mentioned in subsection (5)(c)(i) above is that in corresponding circumstances equivalent conduct would constitute an extra-territorial offence against the law of the United Kingdom punishable with imprisonment for a term of 12 months, or any greater punishment.
(7) The conditions mentioned in subsection (5)(c)(ii) above are—
(a) that the foreign state bases its jurisdiction on the nationality of the offender;
(b) that the conduct constituting the offence occurred outside the United Kingdom; and
(c) that, if it occurred in the United Kingdom, it would constitute an offence under the law of the United Kingdom punishable with imprisonment for a term of 12 months, or any greater punishment.
(8) For the purposes of this Part of this Act—
(a) the law of a foreign state includes the law of any part of that state and the law of the United Kingdom includes the law of any part of the United Kingdom; and
(b) conduct in a colony or dependency of a foreign state, or a vessel, aircraft or hovercraft of a foreign state, shall be treated as if it were conduct in the territory of that state.
(9) The amendments of the Extradition Act 1870 , the Backing of Warrants (Republic of Ireland) Act 1965 and the Fugitive Offenders Act 1967 contained respectively in Parts I, II and III of Schedule 1 to this Act (which introduce into those Acts provisions corresponding to certain provisions of this Part of this Act) shall have effect.
2 Orders in Council as to arrangements for extradition.
(1) Where general extradition arrangements have been made, Her Majesty may, by Order in Council reciting or embodying their terms, direct that extradition procedures shall be available as between the United Kingdom and the foreign state, or any foreign state, with whom they have been made, subject to the limitations, restrictions, exceptions and qualifications, if any, contained in the Order.
(2) An Order in Council under this section shall not be made unless the general extradition arrangements to which it relates—
(a) provide for their determination after the expiration of a notice given by a party to them and not exceeding one year or for their denunciation by means of such a notice; and
(b) are in conformity with the provisions of this Part of this Act, and in particular with the restrictions on return contained in this Part of this Act.
(3) An Order in Council under this section shall be conclusive evidence that the arrangements therein referred to comply with this Part of this Act and that this Part of this Act applies in the case of the foreign state, or any foreign state, mentioned in the Order.
(4) An Order in Council under this section shall be laid before Parliament after being made.
(5) An Order in Council under this section which does not provide that a person may only be returned to the foreign state requesting his return if the court before which he is brought under section 6 below is satisfied that the evidence would be sufficient to warrant his trial if the extradition crime had taken place within the jurisdiction of the court shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(6) On the commencement of this Part of this Act the power conferred by section 2 of the Extradition Act 1870 to direct that that Act shall apply in the case of a foreign state shall cease to be exercisable, but nothing in this Part of this Act affects any Order in Council made under that section or the operation of any enactment in relation to a foreign state in whose case an Order in Council under that section is in force.
3 General restrictions on return.
(1) A person shall not be returned to a foreign state under this Part of this Act, or committed to or kept in custody for the purposes of such return, if it appears to an appropriate authority—
(a) that the offence of which that person is accused or was convicted is an offence of a political character;
(b) that it is an offence under military law which is not also an offence under the general criminal law;
(c) that the request for his return (though purporting to be made on account of an extradition crime) is in fact made for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing him on account of his race, religion, nationality or political opinions; or
(d) that he might, if returned, be prejudiced at his trial or punished, detained or restricted in his...
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