With respect to two US citizens mentioned in the article (and there may be more), they may be extradited should Japan makes the request. The US does have an extradition treaty with Japan and the crimes mentioned above are within the purview of the treaty.[1]
[1] https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/volume%201203/v...
The federal Harboring statutes do not appear to cover skipping bail (until an arrest warrant is issued).
>obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice is a much more complicated topic, but I don't see any statute that would clearly fit this activity.
>aiding and abetting [the escape]
Would require the escape itself to be a crime in both jurisdictions, punishable with deprivation of liberty of more than one year.
IANAL, but I'm curious and able to read. The justice manual on justice.gov is a helpful resource.
- 18 U.S. Code § 1073. Flight to avoid prosecution or giving testimony [1]
- 18 U.S. Code § 752. Instigating or assisting escape [2]
- 18 U.S. Code § 1071. Concealing person from arrest [3]
[1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1073 [2] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/752 [3] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1071
Therefore it's not clear to me if skipping bail is covered by any of these laws (until after an arrest warrant is issued due to that bail violation).
The fuck, why? Not at all obvious that this is illegal, and even if that’s the case it’s not at all obvious that this would be sufficiently illegal to justify arrest (and presumably extradition, which generally requires dual criminality).
Would you expect friends helping bail jumpers to be treated like this elsewhere? That’s not usually (ever?) the case.