18 U.S.C. § 2111
Section 2111 · Special maritime and territorial jurisdiction
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 123 court decisions — leading case Jones v. United States (1999)
Most recently applied in United States v. JT Myore (June 2025)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 924 · 18 U.S.C. § 2113 · 18 U.S.C. § 1111
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, within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, by force and violence, or by intimidation, takes or attempts to take from the person or presence of another anything of value, shall be imprisoned not more than fifteen 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., §463 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §284, 35 Stat. 1144).
Words “within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States” were added to restrict the place of the offense to those places described in section 451 of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., now section 7 of this title.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 inserted “or attempts to take” after “takes”.
Cross References
Actions aboard aircraft in special aircraft jurisdiction of United States in violation of this section punishable as provided herein, see section 46506 of Title 49, Transportation.
Definition, see section 7 of this title.
High seas, citizens as pirates, see section 1652 of this title.