# Why didn't France extradite Polanski years ago? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474 "2009-10-20T13:24:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/1 "2009-10-20T13:24:56Z")
Do we not have an extradition treaty with France? That seems unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/2 "2009-10-20T13:27:44Z")
For 1 thing they have to be asked to extradite him. It sounds like nobody bothered to ask until recently. ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/3 "2009-10-20T13:31:43Z")
Does not France have a policy in which they will not extradite French citizens? I think I remeber reading that somewhere about another case. Or maybe it is that they will not extradite French citizens to nations with capital punishment. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/4 "2009-10-20T13:41:13Z")
> [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](#): > > Does not France have a policy in which they will not extradite French citizens? I think I remeber reading that somewhere about another case. Or maybe it is that they will not extradite French citizens to nations with capital punishment. They, like many countries, won’t extradite where the possibility of capital punishment exists. However Polanksi’s crimes wouldn’t get him capital punishment in the US, so it wouldn’t apply. In non-capital cases, they extradite to the US perfectly happily. The extradition agreement generally requires a guarantee that the extraditionee will not be subject to capital punishment. It is, of course, a lot harder for the US to extradite a French citizen from France than it is to extradite a US citizen hiding in France. And vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/5 "2009-10-20T13:48:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Neither of the contracting Parties shall be bound to deliver up its own citizens or subjects under the stipulations of this convention. [http://www.expatintelligence.com/extradition-treaty-france.shtml](http://www.expatintelligence.com/extradition-treaty-france.shtml) But see, [OFFICE OF LEGAL AFFAIRS |](http://untreaty.un.org/unts/1_60000/22/37/00043806.pdf) (Supplemental treaty makes clear that executive has the power to surrender a national to the requesting government, as long as local law permits it). but then see, > [@](#): > > The French ambassador has verbally indicated to us that Peterson cannot be extradited because French law prohibits the extradition of its nationals. However, Article 3 of the recent Extradition Treaty between the United States and France does not preclude France from extraditing one of its nationals to the United States. Moreover, the Extradition Treaty between the United States and France states that it was concluded in order “to provide for more effective cooperation between the two States in the suppression of crime and to facilitate relations between the two States in the area of extradition…”. That cooperation appears imminent in the case of Manuel Noriega, and would also be appropriate in the case of Hans Peterson. We have asked the Government of France to provide us with a written analysis reconciling its legal position with the plain language of the Extradition Treaty. To date, we have not received that written analysis. [http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48731927\_senate\_durbin\_obama\_call\_state\_department\_publicly\_ask\_france\_extradite\_hans\_peterson\_immed](http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48731927_senate_durbin_obama_call_state_department_publicly_ask_france_extradite_hans_peterson_immed) ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/6 "2009-10-20T13:48:48Z")
It’s nothing to do with capital punishment. French law prohibits the extradition of French citizens to other countries, irrespective of whether they have a death penalty. No such obligation is imposed by the extradition treaty between France and the US. American citizens on the run from the States may be extradited back there, and it’s in those cases where the death penalty comes into play. France would not return a US citizen who faced such a penalty. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/7 "2009-10-20T14:07:59Z")
So a French citizen can commit any crime in another country and return home without worrying about facing trial? Or maybe not based on the post I reread above. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/8 "2009-10-20T14:22:44Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > So a French citizen can commit any crime in another country and return home without worrying about facing trial? Or maybe not based on the post I reread above. France allows for French citizens to be tried under French law in French courts for crimes commited abroad. I’m not sure why they never did that to Polanski. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/9 "2009-10-20T14:36:33Z")
An [article](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/weekinreview/04kimmelman.html) in the New York Times suggested that in France, artists and intellectuals are considered special somehow: “‘Being an artist or intellectual is considered a privilege in France,’ is how Christian Viviani, a French professor of film, put it the other day. Translation: prominent French artists and intellectuals, or many of them anyway, believe that their work, by virtue of its excellence, allows them moral leeway.” ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/10 "2009-10-20T14:43:53Z")
Ireland says artists don’t have to pay taxes so they get that kind of special treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/11 "2009-10-20T14:49:17Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > They, like many countries, won’t extradite where the possibility of capital punishment exists. > > It is, of course, a lot harder for the US to extradite a French citizen from France than it is to extradite a US citizen hiding in France. And vice versa. I’d say that most countries have laws that state that they don’t extradite their citizens to other countries whatever crimes they have committed. Sweden has some problems with Turkey right now as the leader of a criminal outfit has fled there and he has a Turkish passport. On the other hand Sweden has just started a new approach regarding getting citizens home from abroad to stand trial: we just withdraw their passports and as illegal aliens they are likely to be expelled. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/12 "2009-10-20T17:01:55Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > I’d say that most countries have laws that state that they don’t extradite their citizens to other countries whatever crimes they have committed. Not always, though. A recent example of this was [Gregory Despres](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Despres), a dual U.S./Canadian citizen who murdered an elderly couple in New Brunswick and then drove across the border into the United States. He was arrested two days after entering the U.S., at which point the RCMP (the national Canadian police) learned that he had been picked up and sought his extradition. He was shipped back to Canada six months later, and was later found “guilty but not criminally responsible” due to his mental state. ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/13 "2009-10-20T17:45:03Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > I’d say that most countries have laws that state that they don’t extradite their citizens to other countries whatever crimes they have committed. It seems fairly straightforward to extradite British citizens from here to the US, there have been a couple of high-profile cases recently: > **[NatWest Three](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NatWest_Three)** > > The NatWest Three, also known as the Enron Three, are the British businessmen Giles Darby, David Bermingham and Gary Mulgrew. In 2002, they were indicted in Houston, Texas, on seven counts of wire fraud against their former employer, Greenwich NatWest, as part of the Enron scandal. > After a high-profile battle in the British courts, the three men were extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States in 2006. On 28 November 2007, each pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in exchange f... > **[BBC NEWS | UK | Hacker refused extradition appeal](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8298634.stm)** > > Computer hacker Gary McKinnon is refused permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court against his extradition to the US. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/14 "2009-10-20T17:57:47Z")
While it’s never been precisely stated here, the California prosecutor (well, presumably LA’s) could have requested that Polanski stand trial in France. However, that was never asked. There are two considerable reasons why this would have been done: first, we don’t really want France to take over the prosecution when they don’t have the evidence or the local jurisdiction over the crime. Second, there were real questiolns about the kind of justcie France would consider “fair”, given that they do indeed have a certain cult of the artist. There were and are serious doubts about whether they would hoenstly prosecute Polanski or just have a sham prosecution. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/15 "2009-10-20T18:27:42Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > While it’s never been precisely stated here, the California prosecutor (well, presumably LA’s) could have requested that Polanski stand trial in France. However, that was never asked. There are two considerable reasons why this would have been done: first, we don’t really want France to take over the prosecution when they don’t have the evidence or the local jurisdiction over the crime. Second, there were real questiolns about the kind of justcie France would consider “fair”, given that they do indeed have a certain cult of the artist. There were and are serious doubts about whether they would hoenstly prosecute Polanski or just have a sham prosecution. But Polanski had already been convicted in California. France wouldn’t need to try him for rape, but for skipping out on his sentence. I’m reasonably certain that fleeing a sentence is a crime over there, too. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/16 "2009-10-20T18:32:55Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/17 "2009-10-20T19:03:12Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > While it’s never been precisely stated here, the California prosecutor (well, presumably LA’s) could have requested that Polanski stand trial in France. However, that was never asked. There are two considerable reasons why this would have been done: first, we don’t really want France to take over the prosecution when they don’t have the evidence or the local jurisdiction over the crime. Second, there were real questiolns about the kind of justcie France would consider “fair”, given that they do indeed have a certain cult of the artist. There were and are serious doubts about whether they would hoenstly prosecute Polanski or just have a sham prosecution. You have cites for this information, no? Or have we rechristened this forum “General Speculations”? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/18 "2009-10-20T21:28:53Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > You have cites for this information, no? Or have we rechristened this forum “General Speculations”? I really don’t care what the obnoxious and snide call it. I explicitly labelled two clear reasons why it was not done, as well as the circumstances surrounding the event, so you can pretty much engage in complex anatomical enjoyments of the self. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/19 "2009-10-20T22:39:00Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > I really don’t care what the obnoxious and snide call it. I explicitly labelled two clear reasons why it was not done, as well as the circumstances surrounding the event, so you can pretty much engage in complex anatomical enjoyments of the self. Well said! Do you mind if I use that line myself, probably on another board? ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474/20 "2009-10-21T03:09:21Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > Well said! Do you mind if I use that line myself, probably on another board? Ditto, and golf clap. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-didnt-france-extradite-polanski-years-ago/514474.md?page=2)