18 U.S.C. § 25
Section 25 · Use of minors in crimes of violence
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 16 court decisions — leading case United States v. Fish (2014)
Most recently applied in United States v. Simms (January 2019)
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) Definitions.—In this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) Crime of violence.—The term “crime of violence” has the meaning set forth in section 16.
(2) Minor.—The term “minor” means a person who has not reached 18 years of age.
(3) Uses.—The term “uses” means employs, hires, persuades, induces, entices, or coerces.
(b) Penalties.—Any person who is 18 years of age or older, who intentionally uses a minor to commit a crime of violence for which such person may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, or to assist in avoiding detection or apprehension for such an offense, shall—
(1) for the first conviction, be subject to twice the maximum term of imprisonment and twice the maximum fine that would otherwise be authorized for the offense; and
(2) for each subsequent conviction, be subject to 3 times the maximum term of imprisonment and 3 times the maximum fine that would otherwise be authorized for the offense.