PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

Crimes that happen on the high seas or outside any state must be tried in the federal district where the person who did it, or any one of several people who did it together, is arrested or first brought. If no one is arrested or brought into a district, charges can be filed where the offender last lived, or if no residence is known, in the District of Columbia.

Title 18, §3238

Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The trial of all offenses begun or committed upon the high seas, or elsewhere out of the jurisdiction of any particular State or district, shall be in the district in which the offender, or any one of two or more joint offenders, is arrested or is first brought; but if such offender or offenders are not so arrested or brought into any district, an indictment or information may be filed in the district of the last known residence of the offender or of any one of two or more joint offenders, or if no such residence is known the indictment or information may be filed in the District of Columbia.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on section 102 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Judicial Code and Judiciary (Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, § 41, 36 Stat. 1100). Words “begun or” were inserted to clarify scope of this section and section 3237 of this title. This section is similar to section 219 of title 22, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Foreign Relations and Intercourse, providing in part that unlawful issuance of passports may be prosecuted in the district where the offender may be arrested or in custody. Said provision is therefore omitted as covered by this section. The remaining provisions of said section 219 are incorporated in section 1541 of this title.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1963—Pub. L. 88–27 authorized the trial of offenses not committed in any district in the district in which the offender, or any one of two or more joint offenders, is arrested; an indictment or information to be filed in the district of the last known residence of the offender or of any one of two or more joint offenders where the offender or offenders are not arrested or brought into any district; and an indictment or information to be filed in the District of Columbia where there is no knowledge of the residence of the offender or of any one of two or more joint offenders.

§3238 Offenses Not Committed in Any District