18 U.S.C. § 3164
Section 3164 · Persons detained or designated as being of high risk
This is § 101 of the Speedy Trial Act of 1974
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 117 court decisions — leading case United States v. Scaife (1984)
Most recently applied in United States v. Paul Torres, III (April 2021)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 3161 · 18 U.S.C. § 3142 · 21 U.S.C. § 841
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) The trial or other disposition of cases involving—
(1) a detained person who is being held in detention solely because he is awaiting trial, and
(2) a released person who is awaiting trial and has been designated by the attorney for the Government as being of high risk,
shall be accorded priority.
(b) The trial of any person described in subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2) of this section shall commence not later than ninety days following the beginning of such continuous detention or designation of high risk by the attorney for the Government. The periods of delay enumerated in section 3161(h) are excluded in computing the time limitation specified in this section.
(c) Failure to commence trial of a detainee as specified in subsection (b), through no fault of the accused or his counsel, or failure to commence trial of a designated releasee as specified in subsection (b), through no fault of the attorney for the Government, shall result in the automatic review by the court of the conditions of release. No detainee, as defined in subsection (a), shall be held in custody pending trial after the expiration of such ninety-day period required for the commencement of his trial. A designated releasee, as defined in subsection (a), who is found by the court to have intentionally delayed the trial of his case shall be subject to an order of the court modifying his nonfinancial conditions of release under this title to insure that he shall appear at trial as required.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1979—Pub. L. 96–43, §7(1), substituted “Persons detained or designated as being of high risk” for “Interim limits” in section catchline.
Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 96–43, §7(2), struck out provisions limiting the trial priority to be accorded persons specified in cls. (1) and (2) of this subsection to the interim period commencing ninety days following July 1, 1975 and ending on the date immediately preceding the date on which the time limits provided for under section 3161(b) and (c) of this title become effective.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 96–43, §7(3), struck out provisions making trial priority provisions of this subsection applicable during an interim period only and requiring the trial of any person detained or designated by the government as being of high risk on or before the first day of such interim period to commence no later than ninety days following the first day of the period and inserted provision excluding the periods of delay specified in section 3161(h) of this title in computing the time limitation of this section.