Travel Act

The Travel Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1952, is a Federal criminal statute which forbids the use of the U.S. mail, or interstate or foreign travel, for the purpose of engaging in certain specified criminal acts. It was first passed by United States Congress in 1961 and has been amended six times since then.

Subsection (a) of the statute sets forth the elements of an offense under the Travel Act. The acts prohibited are interstate or foreign travel, or use of the mails or "any facility in interstate or foreign commerce", for the purpose of distributing the proceeds of an unlawful activity, committing a crime of violence in furtherance of an unlawful activity, or to "promote, manage, establish, carry on" an unlawful activity. The offense is completed when a person engages in travel or use of the mails with the intent of committing any of the aforementioned acts, and then goes on to commit or attempt to commit one of the prohibited acts. This has the effect of making the act of traveling (or using the mail) in furtherance of certain types of crime a separate indictable offense from the underlying crime(s) the person is committing.

Subsection (b) of the statute defines "unlawful activity" for the purposes of the Travel Act. The activities specified in this subsection include illegal gambling, liquor on which the Federal excise tax has not been paid, controlled substance offenses, prostitution offenses, extortion, bribery, or arson which violate either Federal law or the laws of the state in which they are committed. The inclusion of state-level crime in the Act is important because it effectively federalizes certain state laws which may not have analogous provisions at the Federal level. For example, some states have laws prohibiting commercial bribery (bribery which does not involve government officials), but there is no Federal statute which directly addresses this issue. However, travel or use of the mails in furtherance of violations of state commercial bribery laws can be prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice in Federal court.

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