Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-73not60
§1703 Delay or Destruction of Mail or Newspapers
Title 18 › Part I— CRIMES › Chapter 83— POSTAL SERVICE › § 1703
Summary
Makes it illegal for a postal worker to hide, destroy, hold back, delay, or open any mail they handle that was meant to be sent or delivered. People who do that can be fined or jailed for up to five years. It also bans postal workers from improperly handling or opening newspapers or newspaper packages not addressed to their office, and anyone else who opens or destroys those can be fined or jailed for up to one year.
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; orWhoever, 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
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60