All Agencies, Latest Month		All Agencies, Current FY		Geographic Distribution of Convictions for All Agencies, FY 2024
	11 Prosecutions in September 2024		179 Prosecutions in Fiscal Year 2024
	21 Convictions in September 2024		181 Convictions in Fiscal Year 2024

CITE

    18 USC Sec. 1708                                            01/05/2009

EXPCITE

    TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
    PART I - CRIMES
    CHAPTER 83 - POSTAL SERVICE

HEAD

    Sec. 1708. Theft or receipt of stolen mail matter generally

STATUTE

      Whoever steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception
    obtains, or attempts so to obtain, from or out of any mail, post
    office, or station thereof, letter box, mail receptacle, or any
    mail route or other authorized depository for mail matter, or from
    a letter or mail carrier, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or
    mail, or abstracts or removes from any such letter, package, bag,
    or mail, any article or thing contained therein, or secretes,
    embezzles, or destroys any such letter, postal card, package, bag,
    or mail, or any article or thing contained therein; or
      Whoever steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception
    obtains any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any
    article or thing contained therein which has been left for
    collection upon or adjacent to a collection box or other authorized
    depository of mail matter; or
      Whoever buys, receives, or conceals, or unlawfully has in his
    possession, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any
    article or thing contained therein, which has been so stolen,
    taken, embezzled, or abstracted, as herein described, knowing the
    same to have been stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted -
      Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five
    years, or both.

SOURCE

    (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 779; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, Sec.
    39, 63 Stat. 95; July 1, 1952, ch. 535, 66 Stat. 314; Pub. L. 103-
    322, title XXXIII, Sec. 330016(1)(I), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat.
    2147.)

HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES

                                 1948 ACT
      Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Secs. 317, 321 (Mar. 4,
    1909, ch. 321, Secs. 194, 198, 35 Stat. 1125, 1126; May 18, 1916,
    ch. 126, Sec. 10, 39 Stat. 162; July 28, 1916, ch. 261, Sec. 1, 39
    Stat. 418; Feb. 25, 1925, ch. 318, 43 Stat. 977; May 7, 1934, ch.
    220, Sec. 1, 48 Stat. 667; Aug. 26, 1935, ch. 693, 49 Stat. 867;
    Aug. 7, 1939, ch. 557, 53 Stat. 1256).
      Each of these two sections has been divided. Provisions relating
    to theft or larceny of mail were placed in this section.
      Words "letter box, mail receptacle, or any mail route" are from
    section 321 of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed. Such receptacles are
    authorized depositaries. (See Rosen v. United States, N.Y. 1917, 38
    S.Ct. 148, 245 U.S. 467, 62 L.Ed. 406, and Foster v. Biddle, C.C.A.
    Kan. 1926, 14 F.2d 280, involving indictment under section 317 of
    title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed.) No cases are reported of prosecutions
    for mail theft under section 321 of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed.,
    which relates primarily to malicious mischief respecting letter
    boxes.
      Language omitted from section 317 of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed.,
    and all of section 321 of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., except that
    above quoted, was incorporated in sections 1702 and 1705 of this
    title.
      Words "or aids in buying, receiving, or concealing" were omitted
    as unnecessary in view of the definition of principal in section 2
    of this title.
      The smaller penalty for an offense involving $100 or less was
    added. (See sections 641 and 645 of this title.)
      Minor changes were made in phraseology.
                                 1949 ACT
      This section [section 39] corrects a typographical error in
    section 1708 of title 18, U.S.C.
                                AMENDMENTS
      1994 - Pub. L. 103-322 substituted "fined under this title" for
    "fined not more than $2,000" in last par.
      1952 - Act July 1, 1952, made any thefts or receipt of stolen
    mail a felony regardless of the monetary value of the thing stolen.
      1949 - Act May 24, 1949, substituted "buys" for "buy" in third
    par.