18 U.S.C. § 3147
Section 3147 · Penalty for an offense committed while on release
This is the Bail Reform Act of 1984
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 331 court decisions — leading case United States v. Berkowitz (1991)
Most recently applied in United States v. Trahan (August 2024)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 3146 · 21 U.S.C. § 841 · 18 U.S.C. § 3142
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment and consequential amendments — watch for a citation surge after a change. 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 person convicted of an offense committed while released under this chapter shall be sentenced, in addition to the sentence prescribed for the offense, to—
(1) a term of imprisonment of not more than ten years if the offense is a felony; or
(2) a term of imprisonment of not more than one year if the offense is a misdemeanor.
A term of imprisonment imposed under this section shall be consecutive to any other sentence of imprisonment.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 3147, added Pub. L. 89–465, §3(a), June 22, 1966, 80 Stat. 215, related to appeals from conditions of release, prior to repeal in the revision of this chapter by section 203(a) of Pub. L. 98–473.
Amendments
1986—Pub. L. 99–646 substituted “under” for “pursuant to” in two places and “for the offense,” for “for the offense”.
1984—Pub. L. 98–473, §223(g), struck out “not less than two years and” after “imprisonment of” in par. (1), and “not less than ninety days and” after “imprisonment of” in par. (2).
Effective Date of 1986 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 99–646 effective 30 days after Nov. 10, 1986, see section 55(j) of Pub. L. 99–646, set out as a note under section 3141 of this title.
Effective Date of 1984 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 98–473 effective Nov. 1, 1987, and applicable only to offenses committed after the taking effect of such amendment, see section 235(a)(1) of Pub. L. 98–473, set out as an Effective Date note under section 3551 of this title.