Bank Robbery

What is Bank Robbery?

Federal bank robbery charges fall under 18 U.S.C. § 2113, which covers the act of taking or attempting to take illegal possession of currency, notes, or other finacial property from a federally insured financial institution.

Related acts include includes robbing, or stealing from, armored trucks and ATM's. Internet-related theft (hacking computer systems) can also be considered a form of robbery.

Penalties include up to 20 years in prison, with a fine up to $250,000. If anyone is killed or kidnapped result in a sentence of life in prison or the death penalty.

Federal Law on Bank Robbery

The Federal law (1349. Bank Robbery) on bank robbery, per the justice.gov website, provides the following overview:

Title 18, section 2113 of the United States Code is the Federal criminal bank robbery statute. Section 2113 outlines and defines prohibited criminal conduct vis-a-vis federally protected financial institutions and concomitant penalties.

Subsection (a) prohibits the taking or attempted taking by force, intimidation, or extortion, of any property, money or any other thing of value belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management or possession of any bank, credit union, or savings and loan association, which are defined in § 2113(f), (g), and (h), respectively. Furthermore, anyone who enters or attempts to enter any building used in whole or in part as a bank, credit union, or savings and loan association with the intent to commit any felony affecting such financial institution or any larceny is subject to a fine, twenty years imprisonment or both.

Subsection (b) outlines the penalties for anyone who takes and carries away, with the intent to steal or purloin, any property or money or any thing of value in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of any bank, credit union, or savings and loan. The maximum penalty for violation of this subsection is a fine and ten years imprisonment if the value of the property exceeds $100. The maximum penalty is a fine and one year imprisonment if the property's value is $100 or less.

Subsection (c) makes it a crime to knowingly receive, possess, conceal, store, barter, sell or dispose of any property, money, or any thing of value which has been taken or stolen from a bank, credit union, or savings and loan association. Violators of this subsection are subjected to the penalties provided in subsection (b), supra, for the taker.

Subsection (d) states that anyone who assaults any person, or puts in jeopardy the life of any person by the use of a dangerous weapon or device while committing any offense described in subsections (a) or (b) is subject to a fine and up to twenty-five years imprisonment. Toy weapons and hoax bomb devices fall within the purview of this subsection.

Subsection (e) provides penalties for anyone who kills another person or forcibly abducts another during the commission of any offense previously described in §2113, or while avoiding or attempting to avoid apprehension for the commission of, or attempting to free himself from arrest or confinement for such offense. The statutory minimum penalty for violation of subsection (e) is ten years. If death results during the criminal episode, the statute provides for the death penalty or life imprisonment. See JM 9-10.000 et. seq. for the requirements relating to the death penalty.

Subsection (f) defines the term "bank." A bank includes any member bank of the Federal Reserve System, and any other banking association, trust company, savings bank operating under the laws of the United States, including a branch or agency of a foreign bank (as defined in paragraphs (1) and (3) of section 1(b) of the International Banking Act of 1978), and any institution in which the deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or "FDIC".

The term "credit union" is defined in subsection (g). A "credit union" includes any Federal credit union and any State-chartered credit union the accounts of which are insured by the National Credit Union Administration Board, and any "Federal Credit Union" as defined in section 2 of the Federal Credit Union Act.

Subsection (h) defines the term "savings and loan association". It includes any Federal savings association or State savings association (as defined in section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. § 1813(b)) having accounts insured by the FDIC and any corporation described in section 3(b)(1)(C) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. § 1813(b)(1)(c)) that is operating under the laws of the United States.