18 USC § 34 - Penalty when death results

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t18/s34"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_legal_evidence"
title: "18 USC § 34 - Penalty when death results"
title_number: 18
title_name: "CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE"
section_number: "34"
section_name: "Penalty when death results"
chapter_number: 2
chapter_name: "AIRCRAFT AND MOTOR VEHICLES"
part_number: "I"
part_name: "CRIMES"
positive_law: true
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-21"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(Added July 14, 1956, ch. 595, § 1, 70 Stat. 540; amended Pub. L. 103–322, title VI, § 60003(a)(1), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 1968.)"
---


# § 34. Penalty when death results

Whoever is convicted of any crime prohibited by this chapter, which has resulted in the death of any person, shall be subject also to the death penalty or to imprisonment for life.

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**Source Credit**: (Added July 14, 1956, ch. 595, § 1, 70 Stat. 540; amended Pub. L. 103–322, title VI, § 60003(a)(1), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 1968.)

## Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1994— substituted “imprisonment for life.” for “imprisonment for life, if the jury shall in its discretion so direct, or, in the case of a plea of guilty, or a plea of not guilty where the defendant has waived a trial by jury, if the court in its discretion shall so order.”