Deprivation of rights under color of law
United States Code
Citation analytics
How this statute sits in the citation network, derived from CiteLaw's graph of published opinions.
★Landmark AuthorityTop 1% most-cited · cited by 2,201 decisions
2,201
Citing decisions
6+
Courts citing
Citations by decade
1
2
5
26
35
133
146
157
205
276
1,215
1920s1930s1940s1950s1960s1970s1980s1990s2000s2010s2020s
Courts citing this statute
Most recently cited by10
- 2026Halousek v. State of California 9th Cir.
- 2026Vitatoe v. Kipp 5th Cir.
- 2026United States v. Jevric D.D.C.
- 2026Becton v. United States Fed. Cl.
- 2026Mercer v. ViacomCBS/Paramount 2d Cir.
- 2026Keith Edwards v. Officer J. Grubbs
- 2026JAMES DAVID MABB v. VENTURA COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT
- 2026KENDRICK BEY v. LYNOTT
- 2026Buchanan v. Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety
- 2026United States v. Tonya Farley
Counts reflect decisions in the CiteLaw corpus and may lag very recent opinions.
Text
Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death. (Source: (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 696; Pub. L. 90–284, title I, § 103(b), Apr. 11, 1968, 82 Stat. 75; Pub. L. 100–690, title VII, § 7019, Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 4396; Pub. L. 103–322, title VI, § 60006(b), title XXXII, §§ 320103(b), 320201(b), title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(H), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 1970, 2109, 2113, 2147; Pub. L. 104–294, title VI, §§ 604(b)(14)(B), 607(a), Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3507, 3511.))