Title 18Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-73

§4101 Definitions

Title 18 › Part PART III— - PRISONS AND PRISONERS › Chapter CHAPTER 306— - TRANSFER TO OR FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES › § 4101

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Defines key words used when someone is moved between countries to serve or finish a criminal sentence. Double criminality means the act was a crime in both countries at the time of transfer; in federal systems it counts if it is illegal under federal law or any state or province. Imprisonment means a court-ordered punishment that keeps a person confined in an institution. Juvenile means under 18, or under 21 for proceedings under chapter 403. Juvenile delinquency means acts by a juvenile that would be crimes for adults, or noncriminal acts that juvenile authorities can supervise or treat. Offender means someone convicted or found delinquent. Parole means release from prison before the sentence ends, under conditions and supervision, including supervised release under section 3583. Probation means being allowed to stay free under supervision and conditions that could lead to jail if broken. Sentence includes the penalty and the court’s judgment or juvenile findings. State includes U.S. states, DC, Puerto Rico, and U.S. territories. Transfer means moving a person so one country’s sentence is carried out in another. Treaty means an agreement allowing a sentenced person to be sent to their country of citizenship or nationality to serve the sentence.

Full Legal Text

Title 18, §4101

Crimes and Criminal Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

As used in this chapter the term—
(a)“double criminality” means that at the time of transfer of an offender the offense for which he has been sentenced is still an offense in the transferring country and is also an offense in the receiving country. With regard to a country which has a federal form of government, an act shall be deemed to be an offense in that country if it is an offense under the federal laws or the laws of any state or province thereof;
(b)“imprisonment” means a penalty imposed by a court under which the individual is confined to an institution;
(c)“juvenile” means—
(1)a person who is under eighteen years of age; or
(2)for the purpose of proceedings and disposition under chapter 403 of this title because of an act of juvenile delinquency, a person who is under twenty-one years of age;
(d)“juvenile delinquency” means—
(1)a violation of the laws of the United States or a State thereof or of a foreign country committed by a juvenile which would have been a crime if committed by an adult; or
(2)noncriminal acts committed by a juvenile for which supervision or treatment by juvenile authorities of the United States, a State thereof, or of the foreign country concerned is authorized;
(e)“offender” means a person who has been convicted of an offense or who has been adjudged to have committed an act of juvenile delinquency;
(f)“parole” means any form of release of an offender from imprisonment to the community by a releasing authority prior to the expiration of his sentence, subject to conditions imposed by the releasing authority and to its supervision, including a term of supervised release pursuant to section 3583;
(g)“probation” means any form of a sentence under which the offender is permitted to remain at liberty under supervision and subject to conditions for the breach of which a penalty of imprisonment may be ordered executed;
(h)“sentence” means not only the penalty imposed but also the judgment of conviction in a criminal case or a judgment of acquittal in the same proceeding, or the adjudication of delinquency in a juvenile delinquency proceeding or dismissal of allegations of delinquency in the same proceedings;
(i)“State” means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory or possession of the United States;
(j)“transfer” means a transfer of an individual for the purpose of the execution in one country of a sentence imposed by the courts of another country; and
(k)“treaty” means a treaty under which an offender sentenced in the courts of one country may be transferred to the country of which he is a citizen or national for the purpose of serving the sentence.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1984—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 98–473 inserted “including a term of supervised release pursuant to section 3583” after “supervision”. Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 98–473 substituted “under which” for “to a penalty of imprisonment the execution of which is suspended” and “a” for “the suspended” before “penalty”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1984 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 98–473 effective Nov. 1, 1987, and applicable only to offenses committed after the taking effect of such amendment, see section 235(a)(1) of Pub. L. 98–473, set out as an

Effective Date

note under section 3551 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

18 U.S.C. § 4101

Title 18Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73