18 U.S.C. § 19
Section 19 · Petty offense defined
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 89 court decisions — leading case United States v. Chavez (2000)
Most recently applied in United States v. Flaming (April 2025)
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.
As used in this title, the term “petty offense” means a Class B misdemeanor, a Class C misdemeanor, or an infraction, for which the maximum fine is no greater than the amount set forth for such an offense in section 3571(b)(6) or (7) in the case of an individual or section 3571(c)(6) or (7) in the case of an organization.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1988—Pub. L. 100–690 inserted “, for which the maximum fine is no greater than the amount set forth for such an offense in section 3571(b)(6) or (7) in the case of an individual or section 3571(c)(6) or (7) in the case of an organization” after “infraction”.