4 U.S.C. § 112
Section 112 · Compacts between States for cooperation in prevention of crime; consent of Congress
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 42 court decisions — leading case Seattle Master Builders Ass'n v. Pacific Northwest Electric Power & Conservation Planning Council (1986)
Most recently applied in Aleman v. State (June 2020)
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 consent of Congress is hereby given to any two or more States to enter into agreements or compacts for cooperative effort and mutual assistance in the prevention of crime and in the enforcement of their respective criminal laws and policies, and to establish such agencies, joint or otherwise, as they may deem desirable for making effective such agreements and compacts.
(b) For the purpose of this section, the term “States” means the several States and Alaska, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the District of Columbia.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Note
This section [section 129(b) of Act May 24, 1949] incorporates in title 4, U.S.C. (enacted into positive law by act of July 30, 1947 (ch. 389, §1, 61 Stat. 641), the provisions of former section 420 of title 18, U.S.C. (act of June 6, 1934, ch. 406, 48 Stat. 909), which, in the course of the revision of such title 18, was omitted therefrom and recommended for transfer to such title 4. (See table 7—Transferred sections, p. A219, H. Rept. No. 304, April 24, 1947, to accompany H.R. 3190, 80th Cong.).
Amendments
1962—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 87–406 inserted “Guam” after “the Virgin Islands,”.
1956—Act Aug. 3, 1956, designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b).
Admission of Alaska and Hawaii to Statehood
Alaska was admitted into the Union on Jan. 3, 1959, on issuance of Proc. No. 3269, Jan. 3, 1959, 24 F.R. 81, 73 Stat. c16, and Hawaii was admitted into the Union on Aug. 21, 1959, on issuance of Proc. No. 3309, Aug. 21, 1959, 24 F.R. 6868, 73 Stat. c74. For Alaska Statehood Law, see Pub. L. 85–508, July 7, 1958, 72 Stat. 339, set out as a note preceding former section 21 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions. For Hawaii Statehood Law, see Pub. L. 86–3, Mar. 18, 1959, 73 Stat. 4, set out as a note preceding former section 491 of Title 48.