Too often, I think, laws are passed and then they don’t quite work as was originally
thought they would or originally hoped they would. And so the idea of post-legislative
scrutiny has some into being which means that Parliamentary committees look at legislation
that went on the statue books sometime before and at present there is a general rule that
any laws which were published three years ago should be at least subject to potential
examination. This Extradition legislation which is dated 2003 is obviously older than
that, but it throws up a number of very important both legal and political issues which we think
it’s a good idea to look into.
Well, extradition is a contentious topic. It’s politically contentious, I mean you’ve
only got to look at the newspapers and watch the television to know that. At the same time
it has a big impact on the particular people concerned. And so there are a large number
of aspects of what is in fact a very difficult topic, which it seems appropriate for Parliament
to look into and to report those findings to Government.
What we’ve done is to try to first acquaint ourselves with the facts as they now are,
and we’ve, for example, talked with Sir Scott Baker who, together with two colleagues,
looked into the extradition legislation as it then was two or three years ago, for the
Government. On top of that, we have talked to the Home Office Minister in charge of this,
and we have discussed the matter with some NGOs and with lawyers from America.
We’re anxious to hear from people who have first-hand expertise and understanding of
extradition and how it affects people. Therefore, obviously, we’re thinking about practitioners,
pressure groups who are concerned about this, people who may have been affected personally
one way or another by the workings of the extradition system, and what we hope to be
able to do is to form some conclusions synthesising the views that are given to us.
The first stage in the process is to seek written evidence from people who think they
have something worthwhile to tell us. We shall obviously read and think about all that and
then, once we’ve done that, it may be that there are some witnesses who we would like
to talk to face-to-face about what they’ve told us. And then once we’ve done all that,
we shall aim to think about it and synthesise a report from the Committee as a whole, which
comprises members from a number of different parts of the political spectrum.
Well perhaps the easiest way is, if you want to submit some written evidence, is to do
so through the form that is on the website. In addition to that, which may be helpful,
people can see our oral evidence sessions, which are obviously also online, and that
will give an idea of what we’re doing and the way we’re approaching the topic. And
finally it’s always possible to keep in contact with what’s going on with the Committee
via Twitter, using the hashtag HLExtradition.