18 U.S.C. § 1072
Section 1072 · Concealing escaped prisoner
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 40 court decisions — leading case United States v. Silva (1984)
Most recently applied in United States v. Annamalai Annamalai (September 2019)
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 willfully harbors or conceals any prisoner after his escape from the custody of the Attorney General or from a Federal penal or correctional institution, shall be imprisoned not more than three years.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§753i, 910 (May 14, 1930, ch. 274, §10, 46 Stat. 327; May 27, 1930, ch. 339, §10, 46 Stat. 390).
Section consolidates similar language of said sections of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed. Remaining provisions are in section 752 of this title.
Words “willfully harbors” were added in conformity with section 1071 of this title. Punishment for harboring violators of the Espionage laws is provided in section 792 of this title. Punishment for harboring deserters from the armed forces is provided in section 1381 of this title.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Cross References
Misprision of felony, see section 4 of this title.