18 U.S.C. § 371

Section 371 is the general federal conspiracy statute. It punishes conspiracies to commit any offense against the United States, and conspiracies to defraud the United States or any agency thereof, when one or more of the conspirators does any act to effect the object of the conspiracy.

Citation: 18 U.S.C. § 371Jurisdiction: United StatesEffective: 1948-06-25

Codified text.

If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

If, however, the offense, the commission of which is the object of the conspiracy, is a misdemeanor only, the punishment for such conspiracy shall not exceed the maximum punishment provided for such misdemeanor.

Editorial note — Source credits

Editorial commentary — not part of the primary text.

Editorial note. Source credits are preserved as editorial metadata derived from the official Office of the Law Revision Counsel publication.

Editorial note. June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 701; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(L), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.

Revision history

1948-06-25 — Enacted as part of the Title 18 recodification (act of June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 701).
1994-09-13 — Amended by section 330016(1)(L) of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Pub. L. 103-322, 108 Stat. 2147).

Canonical source: Office of the Law Revision Counsel, United States Code (https://uscode.house.gov).