18 U.S.C. § 3661
Section 3661 · Use of information for sentencing
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 855 court decisions — leading case United States v. Ameline (2005)
Most recently applied in United States v. Sterkaj (May 2025)
Applied most in the Seventh Circuit Circuit (66 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 3553 · 21 U.S.C. § 841 · 18 U.S.C. § 3742
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.
No limitation shall be placed on the information concerning the background, character, and conduct of a person convicted of an offense which a court of the United States may receive and consider for the purpose of imposing an appropriate sentence.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Short Title of 1990 Amendment
Pub. L. 101–421, §1, Oct. 12, 1990, 104 Stat. 909, provided that: “This Act [amending provisions set out as a note under section 3672 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Drug and Alcohol Dependent Offenders Treatment Act of 1989’.”
Short Title of 1986 Amendment
Pub. L. 99–570, title I, §1861(a), Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3207–53, provided that: “This section [amending sections 3672 and 4255 of this title, enacting provisions set out as a note under section 3672 of this title, and amending provisions set out as a note under section 4255 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Drug and Alcohol Dependent Offenders Treatment Act of 1986’.”