Grieve said Britons were left uneasy when faced with the seemingly harsh and disproportionate sentences in the US justice system. "I think there's a lack of public confidence in the US justice system, which is a rather wider issue and more complicated than the minutiae of the treaty agreement," he said.
"There are perceptions in this country that the US criminal justice system can be harsh, its penal policy can be harsh, and its sentencing policy can appear disproportionate by European and British standards. There are aspects of it therefore which tend to make people uncertain and uneasy, and I'm not sure that that's readily curable."
Grieve admitted the UK's extradition laws were not ideal, but said: "In a world where we wish to see crime successfully combated, having a system by which to facilitate transfer to countries which meet the necessary criteria of fairness so as to curb crime is absolutely indispensable." He added: "Perhaps we are where we are today because we rushed things in 2003."
