18 U.S.C. § 1513
Section 1513 · Retaliating against a witness, victim, or an informant
Amended 6 times on record
Applied in 408 court decisions — leading case United States v. Velasquez (1985)
Most recently applied in United States v. Basilici (May 2025)
Applied most in the First Circuit Circuit (28 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 1512 · 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)(1) Whoever kills or attempts to kill another person with intent to retaliate against any person for—
(A) the attendance of a witness or party at an official proceeding, or any testimony given or any record, document, or other object produced by a witness in an official proceeding; or
(B) providing to a law enforcement officer any information relating to the commission or possible commission of a Federal offense or a violation of conditions of probation, supervised release, parole, or release pending judicial proceedings,
shall be punished as provided in paragraph (2).
(2) The punishment for an offense under this subsection is—
(A) in the case of a killing, the punishment provided in sections 1111 and 1112; and
(B) in the case of an attempt, imprisonment for not more than 30 years.
(b) Whoever knowingly engages in any conduct and thereby causes bodily injury to another person or damages the tangible property of another person, or threatens to do so, with intent to retaliate against any person for—
(1) the attendance of a witness or party at an official proceeding, or any testimony given or any record, document, or other object produced by a witness in an official proceeding; or
(2) any information relating to the commission or possible commission of a Federal offense or a violation of conditions of probation, supervised release, parole, or release pending judicial proceedings given by a person to a law enforcement officer;
or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
(c) If the retaliation occurred because of attendance at or testimony in a criminal case, the maximum term of imprisonment which may be imposed for the offense under this section shall be the higher of that otherwise provided by law or the maximum term that could have been imposed for any offense charged in such case.
(d) There is extraterritorial Federal jurisdiction over an offense under this section.
(e) Whoever knowingly, with the intent to retaliate, takes any action harmful to any person, including interference with the lawful employment or livelihood of any person, for providing to a law enforcement officer any truthful information relating to the commission or possible commission of any Federal offense, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.
(f) Whoever conspires to commit any offense under this section shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.
(g) A prosecution under this section may be brought in the district in which the official proceeding (whether pending, about to be instituted, or completed) was intended to be affected, or in which the conduct constituting the alleged offense occurred.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2008—Subsec. (a)(1)(B). Pub. L. 110–177, §206(1), inserted comma after “probation” and struck out comma after “release,”.
Subsec. (a)(2)(B). Pub. L. 110–177, §206(2), substituted “30 years” for “20 years”.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 110–177, §206(3)(B), substituted “20 years” for “ten years” in concluding provisions.
Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 110–177, §206(3)(A), inserted comma after “probation” and struck out comma after “release,”.
Subsecs. (e), (f). Pub. L. 110–177, §206(4), redesignated subsec. (e) relating to conspiracy to commit any offense under this section as (f).
Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 110–177, §204, added subsec. (g).
2002—Subsecs. (a)(1)(B), (b)(2). Pub. L. 107–273, §3001(c)(2), inserted “supervised release,” after “probation”.
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 107–273, §4002(b)(4), transferred subsec. (d) to appear after subsec. (c).
Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 107–273, §3001(b), added subsec. (e) relating to conspiracy to commit any offense under this section.
Pub. L. 107–204 added subsec. (e) relating to taking of action harmful to any person for providing law enforcement officer truthful information relating to commission of offense.
1996—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104–214, §1(1)(B), added subsec. (c) at end.
Pub. L. 104–214, §1(1)(A), redesignated subsec. (c) as (d).
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 104–214, §1(1)(A), redesignated subsec. (c) as (d).
1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–322, §60017(2), added subsec. (a). Former subsec. (a) redesignated (b).
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103–322, §330016(1)(U), substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $250,000” in concluding provisions.
Pub. L. 103–322, §60017(1), redesignated subsec. (a) as (b). Former subsec. (b) redesignated (c).
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 103–322, §60017(1), redesignated subsec. (b) as (c).
Effective Date
Section effective Oct. 12, 1982, see section 9(a) of Pub. L. 97–291, set out as a note under section 1512 of this title.