Contents

Chapter 4
Roles and responsibilities

Introduction

4.1Extradition necessarily is a matter that requires the consideration and involvement of multiple government agencies because it combines international relations with criminal procedure and executive discretion. Consequently, extradition cases in New Zealand normally have involvement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), the New Zealand Police (Police), the Minister of Justice, and the Crown Law Office (Crown Law). The courts play a significant role in deciding the outcome of an extradition, and the Minister of Justice holds the final discretionary decision-making power.

4.2As set out in Chapter 2, a different procedure, with different roles for the actors involved, applies to standard procedure countries (Part 3 of the Extradition Act 1999) as compared to backed-warrant countries (Part 4 of the Extradition Act). The standard procedure would require judges to receive a record of the case against the requested person and to assess its credibility, whereas the backed-warrant process would replicate the current summary process where the judge simply needs to be satisfied of the validity of the foreign warrant.131

4.3This chapter first summarises the current roles and responsibilities, before exploring our main proposal of creating a central authority for extradition. We then look at the different types of roles under the present system and consider options where reform is needed.

131See [2.18]–[2.25].