# Bank Robbery Act: 48 Stat. 783 (Chapter 304, Public, No. 235), 18 May 1934

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/statutes-at-large-48-stat-783-bank-robbery-act/

One of the May 1934 crime bills: "An Act To provide punishment for certain offenses committed against banks organized or operating under laws of the United States or any member of the Federal Reserve System."

Page 783 of volume 48 prints Chapter 304, with the margin "May 18, 1934. [S. 2841.] [Public, No. 235.]": "An Act To provide punishment for certain offenses committed against banks organized or operating under laws of the United States or any member of the Federal Reserve System."

Section 2(a) reads: "Whoever, by force and violence, or by putting in fear, […] feloniously takes, or feloniously attempts to take, from the person or presence of another any property or money or any other thing of value belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of, any bank shall be fined not more than $5,000 or […] imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both" (48 Stat. 783, sec. 2(a)). Heavier penalties apply where the offender assaults a person or puts a life in jeopardy with a dangerous weapon; killing a person, or forcing a person to go along, in the course of the offense carries imprisonment of not less than ten years or death if the jury so directs. The Act does not make federal jurisdiction exclusive.

The name "Bank Robbery Act" is the research request's label; the printed title is quoted above. Bank robbery is not itself an organized-crime offense; the Act is filed with the other May 1934 bills, which the FBI's history timeline speaks of together without naming this one.

## Sources

- Library of Congress, United States Statutes at Large, vol. 48: https://www.loc.gov/resource/llsalvol.llsal_048/?sp=808
- FBI, A Brief History of the FBI: Timeline: https://www.fbi.gov/history/timeline