18 U.S.C. § 1071
Section 1071 · Concealing person from arrest
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 123 court decisions — leading case United States v. Kessi (1989)
Most recently applied in United States v. Marilyn Mosby (July 2025)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 371 · 18 U.S.C. § 3 · 18 U.S.C. § 1001
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever harbors or conceals any person for whose arrest a warrant or process has been issued under the provisions of any law of the United States, so as to prevent his discovery and arrest, after notice or knowledge of the fact that a warrant or process has been issued for the apprehension of such person, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; except that if the warrant or process issued on a charge of felony, or after conviction of such person of any offense, the punishment shall be a fine under this title, or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §246 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §141, 35 Stat. 1114).
Section 246 of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., was divided. Part is in this section and the remainder is incorporated in section 752 of this title.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
2002—Pub. L. 107–273 substituted “fine under this title” for “fine of under this title”.
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “under this title” for “not more than $1,000” after “person, shall be fined” and for “not more than $5,000” after “shall be a fine of”.
1954—Act Aug. 20, 1954, increased the penalty from 6 months to 1 year where the violator harbored a person for whom process has been issued on a misdemeanor charge and inserted the penalty provision where the violation occurred after a person has been convicted of any offense or where a process has been issued for a felony.