British lad to be extradited to US for hacking, this is so wrong!

No he doesn't. He has minor mental health issues like anxiety. He was only diagnosed with very mild Asperger's as an adult.

The United States isn't some third world country and I think a lot of people on here have a deluded view of the US prisons system that they've gained from watching a bit too much television.

I'd also challenge the assertion that US mental health facilities for prisoners are substandard. I am not suggesting that they are extremely good - most prison healthcare in every country on earth could be better resourced - but he will have regular access and monitoring from mental health professionals if there are the problems that he apparently has. He'd also be placed on suicide watch if there was any concern of that.

Anyhow, if we don't extradite for capital offences because it's a human rights issue, why should we extradite this guy?

He has severe mental health issues as well as Asperger's syndrome, he's not just some random criminal

He will not survive the stress of being flown out to another country and subjected to the highly sub-standard mental health provisions of the US penal system

it's basically a death sentence

And why exactly would it be so impossible for us to deal with this ourselves? there is absolutely no need for him to be extradited at all - what a complete waste of time and I'm not surprised about his fear, the justice system in the US is going to be way more unfair on him than it is over here.

And he has major mental health issues, including depression and psychosis, and is a suicide risk

I see your challenge and raise a counterchallenge. The USA prison system is not the same as the British one, not least because the US is massive country governed under a federal system. Some of its prisons and services are very good

Health Services staff at FMC include physicians, a dentist, dental assistants, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, a radiological technician, physical therapists, laboratory technologists and a respiratory therapist. Mental Health Services through the Psychiatry and Psychology Departments are available to all inmates. These include educational groups, therapy groups, individual therapy, intensive diagnosis/assessment, and inpatient treatment. In addition, outpatient substance abuse treatment services are available.

In 2009 Philip Fornaci, the director of the DC Prisoners' Project, stated that Rochester, along with FMC Butner and FMC Carswell, "are clearly the "gold standard" in terms of what BOP facilities can achieve in providing medical care" and that they had provided "excellent medical care, sometimes for extremely complex medical needs.

The harm occurred in France, therefore the crime occurred in France. The headquarters location or the jurisdiction of incorporation of the topco (the holding company that owns all the subsidiary companies) wouldn't bear on the case at all.

If you smash up an Amazon van in London, the crime occurred in London, you will be prosecuted in English courts. The national origin of the company that owns the van wouldn't give rise to any jurisidictional issues (and in fact it's likely the van would be owned by an Amazon subsidiary incorporated in the UK anyway, just as those servers would probably be owned by an Amazon subsidiary incorporated in France, but in either case the ownership does not cause a jurisdictional problem)

So, in your example, harm occurs in France therefore crime occurs in France therefore France seeks extradition of the hacker from the UK to France.

Is your position based on the territorial principle; the effects principle; or the protective principle (or a combination, or none of the above)?

I'm not sure what makes someone a "random criminal". If you were familiar with the court system you'd know probably the majority of those before the courts have mental health problems of one kind or another.

I'm unaware that anyone has asserted that he was incapable of understanding that his act was unlawful, or that he didn't know what he was doing. From his press conference outside the Westminster Magistrates he seems reasonably high-functioning. I cannot see what reason you are positing for why he should be immune from the law.

It's total speculation that he "would not survive the stress". He has obviously been advised by his lawyer that the Gary McKinnon precedent is the only hope for avoiding extradition, and thus he has to play up the depression/suicide angle. These issues would have been examined by the magistrate; expert medical reports would have been sought from both sides, the magistrate clearly did not accept the assertions Lauri Love was making.

Depression is not necessarily major, it depends entirely on the degree. He is clearly not psychotic from the video on the courthouse steps.

The suicide risk is merely asserted, not proven.

Does the U.S. have prescriptive jurisdiction in this case, though - is 'cyberspace' part of a state's "territorial jurisdiction" (The Lotus Case; R v Bates)?

so he's not exactly going to be non-verbal, but being articulate and being able to understand the consequences of your actions are totally separate things.

Does the U.S. have prescriptive jurisdiction in this case, though - is 'cyberspace' part of a state's "territorial jurisdiction" (The Lotus Case; R v Bates)?

When you are diagnosed doesn't mean anything, it's just a symptom of the failure of the healthcare system to diagnose mental disorders properly. And he has major mental health issues, including depression and psychosis, and is a suicide risk.

I don't think my impression of the US penal system is deluded. What makes you such an expert on it?

I see your challenge and raise a counterchallenge. The USA prison system is not the same as the British one, not least because the US is massive country governed under a federal system. Some of its prisons and services are very good. Some of them are just as bad as many third world countries. Suicide watch in the USA can sometimes consist of being tied to a table wrapped in a glorified straitjacket called a suicide smock, either in isolation, or sometimes in a room with a load of other people tied to tables and screaming. Literally barely updated from the 19th century (they are tied with fabric rather than chains I suppose).

He's not young. He's in his thirties.

We have an extradition treaty with the US and since they are the victim of this crime, they have every right to try him in their own soil. The fact that he has Aspergers doesn't really matter since he is still capable of making his own decisions and he chose to do something bad. It's not he has Down's syndrome or something.