2021 US Code
Title 18 - Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Part IV - Correction of Youthful Offenders
Chapter 403 - Juvenile Delinquency
Sec. 5031 - Definitions

For the purposes of this chapter, a "juvenile" is a person who has not attained his eighteenth birthday, or for the purpose of proceedings and disposition under this chapter for an alleged act of juvenile delinquency, a person who has not attained his twenty-first birthday, and "juvenile delinquency" is the violation of a law of the United States committed by a person prior to his eighteenth birthday which would have been a crime if committed by an adult or a violation by such a person of section 922(x).

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 857; Pub. L. 93–415, title V, §501, Sept. 7, 1974, 88 Stat. 1133; Pub. L. 103–322, title XI, §110201(c)(1), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2012.)

Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §921 (June 16, 1938, ch. 486, §1, 52 Stat. 764).

The phrase "who has not attained his eighteenth birthday" was substituted for "seventeen years of age or under" as more clearly reflecting congressional intent and administrative construction. The necessity of a definite fixing of the age of the juvenile was emphasized by Hon. Arthur J. Tuttle, United States district judge, Detroit, Mich., in a letter to the Committee on Revision of the Laws dated June 24, 1944. Words "an offense against the" was changed to "the violation of a" without change of substance.

Minor change was made in translation of section references to "this chapter".

1994—Pub. L. 103–322 inserted before period at end "or a violation by such a person of section 922(x)".

1974—Pub. L. 93–415 amended section generally, inserting "or for the purpose of proceedings and disposition under this chapter for an alleged act of juvenile delinquency, a person who has not attained his twenty-first birthday" after "eighteenth birthday," and substituting "committed by a person prior to his eighteenth birthday which would have been a crime if committed by an adult", for "committed by a juvenile and not punishable by death or life imprisonment."

Pub. L. 93–415, title V, §501, Sept. 7, 1974, 88 Stat. 1133, cited as a credit to this section, was repealed by Pub. L. 115–385, title III, §307, Dec. 21, 2018, 132 Stat. 5152.