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Title 18, Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-110

§1703 Delay or Destruction of Mail or Newspapers

Title 18 › PART I — CRIMES › CHAPTER 83 — POSTAL SERVICE › § 1703

Last updated Sep 23, 2026|Official source

Summary

Postal workers must not hide, destroy, hold back, delay, or open any letters, postcards, packages, bags, or other mail they are given or that comes into their control that is meant to be sent through the mail. If they do, they can be fined, jailed for up to 5 years, or both. Postal workers also may not improperly hold, delay, destroy, or let someone else interfere with newspapers or newspaper packages, or open newspaper mail not addressed to their office. Anyone who, without permission, opens or destroys mail or newspaper packages not addressed to them can be fined, jailed for up to 1 year, or both.

Full Legal Text

Title 18, §1703

Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, unlawfully secretes, destroys, detains, delays, or opens any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail entrusted to him or which shall come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any carrier or other employee of the Postal Service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post office or station thereof established by authority of the Postmaster General or the Postal Service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(b)Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, improperly detains, delays, or destroys any newspaper, or permits any other person to detain, delay, or destroy the same, or opens, or permits any other person to open, any mail or package of newspapers not directed to the office where he is employed; or Whoever, without authority, opens, or destroys any mail or package of newspapers not directed to him, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

1948 ActBased on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§ 318, 319 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §§ 195, 196, 35 Stat. 1125, 1126). Section consolidated section 318 and 319 of said title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed. The embezzlement and theft provisions of each were incorporated in section 1709 and 1710 of this title. Minor changes were made in phraseology. 1949 ActThis section [section 37] corrects typographical errors in section 1703 of title 18, U.S.C.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $500” in subsec. (a) and “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $100” in last par. 1970—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 91–375, § 6(j)(16)(A), amended subsec. (a) generally, which prior to amendment read as follows: “Whoever, being a postmaster or Postal Service employee, unlawfully detains, delays, or opens any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail intrusted to him or which shall come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any carrier or other employee of the Postal Service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post office or station thereof established by authority of the Postmaster General; or secretes, or destroys any such letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, shall be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.” Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 91–375, § 6(j)(16)(B), substituted “Postal Service officer or employee” for “postmaster or Postal Service employee”. 1949—Subsec. (a). Act
May 24, 1949, § 37(a), substituted “secretes” for “secrets”. Subsec. (b). Act
May 24, 1949, § 37(b), substituted “newspapers” for “newspaper”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1970 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 91–375 effective within 1 year after Aug. 12, 1970, on date established therefor by Board of Governors of United States Postal Service and published by it in Federal Register, see section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as an

Effective Date

note preceding section 101 of Title 39, Postal Service.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

18 U.S.C. § 1703

Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Last Updated

Sep 23, 2026

Release point: 119-110