Criminal Law Commons^™

The Extraterritorial Application Of Federal Criminal Statutes: Analytical Roadmap, Normative Conclusions, And A Plea To Congress For Direction, Julie R. O'Sullivan

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Under what circumstances can crimes that cross national boundaries be prosecuted in federal court? This question is critical given the increasing frequency with which criminal conduct crosses borders. This Article provides a guide through extant extraterritoriality analysis--warts and all--and then considers what the answer should be.

First, this Article provides a step-by-step roadmap for those seeking to answer the questions of where a crime that spans borders was committed and, if it is deemed to have been committed outside the territory of the United States, whether the applicable statute and Constitution would countenance such a prosecution. This roadmap will reveal …