18 U.S.C. § 373
Section 373 · Solicitation to commit a crime of violence
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 177 court decisions — leading case United States v. Hinkson (2009)
Most recently applied in United States v. John Walthall (March 2025)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 371 · 18 U.S.C. § 1512 · 18 U.S.C. § 924
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) Whoever, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a felony that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against property or against the person of another in violation of the laws of the United States, and under circumstances strongly corroborative of that intent, solicits, commands, induces, or otherwise endeavors to persuade such other person to engage in such conduct, shall be imprisoned not more than one-half the maximum term of imprisonment or (notwithstanding section 3571) fined not more than one-half of the maximum fine prescribed for the punishment of the crime solicited, or both; or if the crime solicited is punishable by life imprisonment or death, shall be imprisoned for not more than twenty years.
(b) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under this section that, under circumstances manifesting a voluntary and complete renunciation of his criminal intent, the defendant prevented the commission of the crime solicited. A renunciation is not “voluntary and complete” if it is motivated in whole or in part by a decision to postpone the commission of the crime until another time or to substitute another victim or another but similar objective. If the defendant raises the affirmative defense at trial, the defendant has the burden of proving the defense by a preponderance of the evidence.
(c) It is not a defense to a prosecution under this section that the person solicited could not be convicted of the crime because he lacked the state of mind required for its commission, because he was incompetent or irresponsible, or because he is immune from prosecution or is not subject to prosecution.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–322 inserted “(notwithstanding section 3571)” before “fined not more than one-half”.
1986—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 99–646 substituted “property or against the person of another” for “the person or property of another” and inserted “life imprisonment or” before “death”.