18 U.S.C. § 2112
Section 2112 · Personal property of United States
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 50 court decisions — leading case United States v. Bess (1979)
Most recently applied in United States v. Barrett (May 2024)
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 robs or attempts to rob another of any kind or description of personal property belonging to the United States, 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., §99 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §46, 35 Stat. 1097).
That portion of said section 99 relating to felonious taking was omitted as covered by section 641 of this title.
The punishment by fine of not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both, was changed to harmonize with section 2111 of this title. The 15–year penalty is not excessive for an offense of this type.
Minor verbal change was made.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 inserted “or attempts to rob” after “robs”.
Cross References
Embezzlement and theft of public property, see section 641 of this title.