Findings and purpose

(a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Extradition is the formal surrender of a person by one state to another state for prosecution or punishment. (2) Refusal by other nations to extradite or otherwise render to the United States fugitives within their jurisdiction who have been convicted of committing crimes on United States soil impedes the judicial process and undermines the rule of law. (3) The United States has bilateral extradition treaties with more than 100 nations and an extradition agreement with the European Union, including Portugal. (4) The failure to bring criminal fugitives to justice in the United States is an affront to the victims of those crimes. (5) The refusal of Portugal, a close ally and good friend of the United States, to extradite George Wright, convicted of the 1962 murder of Walter Patterson, fugitive from justice since his 1970 escape from the Bayside State Prison in New Jersey, is a deplorable example of a failure to extradite, and has caused ongoing suffering and stress to Mr. Patterson’s surviving family and friends. (6) The refusal to extradite George Wright is emblematic of a number of such refusals from other nations, such that United States policies and efforts to secure extradition and the extradition policies of countries from which the United States seeks extradition and rendition bear further examination. (7) Such examination will be promoted by the issuance of a public report on the status of extradition requests by the United States and related matters. (b) Purpose The purpose of this Act is to provide information necessary to evaluate and thereby strengthen United States Government efforts to extradite fugitives.