18 U.S.C. § 1202
Section 1202 · Ransom money
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 419 court decisions — leading case Custis v. United States (1994)
Most recently applied in Hewitt v. United States (June 2025)
Applied most in the Sixth Circuit Circuit (49 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 922 · 18 U.S.C. § 924 · 21 U.S.C. § 841
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.
(a) Whoever receives, possesses, or disposes of any money or other property, or any portion thereof, which has at any time been delivered as ransom or reward in connection with a violation of section 1201 of this title, knowing the same to be money or property which has been at any time delivered as such ransom or reward, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
(b) A person who transports, transmits, or transfers in interstate or foreign commerce any proceeds of a kidnapping punishable under State law by imprisonment for more than 1 year, or receives, possesses, conceals, or disposes of any such proceeds after they have crossed a State or United States boundary, knowing the proceeds to have been unlawfully obtained, shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined under this title, or both.
(c) For purposes of this section, the term “State” has the meaning set forth in section 245(d) of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §408c–1 (June 22, 1932, ch. 271, §4, as added Jan. 24, 1936, ch. 29, 49 Stat. 1099).
Words “in the penitentiary” after “imprisoned” were omitted in view of section 4082 of this title committing prisoners to the custody of the Attorney General. (See reviser's note under section 1 of this title.)
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322, §320601(b), designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsecs. (b) and (c).
Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–322, §330016(1)(L), substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $10,000”.