18 U.S.C. § 956
Section 956 · Conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 94 court decisions — leading case United States v. Jayyousi (2011)
Most recently applied in Kaziu v. United States (July 2024)
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)(1) Whoever, within the jurisdiction of the United States, conspires with one or more other persons, regardless of where such other person or persons are located, to commit at any place outside the United States an act that would constitute the offense of murder, kidnapping, or maiming if committed in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States shall, if any of the conspirators commits an act within the jurisdiction of the United States to effect any object of the conspiracy, be punished as provided in subsection (a)(2).
(2) The punishment for an offense under subsection (a)(1) of this section is—
(A) imprisonment for any term of years or for life if the offense is conspiracy to murder or kidnap; and
(B) imprisonment for not more than 35 years if the offense is conspiracy to maim.
(b) Whoever, within the jurisdiction of the United States, conspires with one or more persons, regardless of where such other person or persons are located, to damage or destroy specific property situated within a foreign country and belonging to a foreign government or to any political subdivision thereof with which the United States is at peace, or any railroad, canal, bridge, airport, airfield, or other public utility, public conveyance, or public structure, or any religious, educational, or cultural property so situated, shall, if any of the conspirators commits an act within the jurisdiction of the United States to effect any object of the conspiracy, be imprisoned not more than 25 years.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on section 234 of title 22, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Foreign Relations and Intercourse (June 15, 1917, ch. 30, title VIII, §5, 40 Stat. 226).
Amendments
1996—Pub. L. 104–132 substituted “Conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country” for “Conspiracy to injure property of foreign government” as section catchline and amended text generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows:
“(a) If two or more persons within the jurisdiction of the United States conspire to injure or destroy specific property situated within a foreign country and belonging to a foreign government or to any political subdivision thereof with which the United States is at peace, or any railroad, canal, bridge, or other public utility so situated, and if one or more such persons commits an act within the jurisdiction of the United States to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to the conspiracy shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
“(b) Any indictment or information under this section shall describe the specific property which it was the object of the conspiracy to injure or destroy.”
1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000”.
Canal Zone
Applicability of section to Canal Zone, see section 14 of this title.
Cross References
Jurisdiction of offenses, see section 3241 of this title.
Letters, writings, etc., in violation of this section as nonmailable, see section 1717 of this title.