18 U.S.C. § 3594
Section 3594 · Imposition of a sentence of death
This is § 60002 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 35 court decisions — leading case State v. Colon (2004)
Most recently applied in United States v. John Bass (November 2021)
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.
Upon a recommendation under section 3593(e) that the defendant should be sentenced to death or life imprisonment without possibility of release, the court shall sentence the defendant accordingly. Otherwise, the court shall impose any lesser sentence that is authorized by law. Notwithstanding any other law, if the maximum term of imprisonment for the offense is life imprisonment, the court may impose a sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of release.