Venue: A Brief Look at Federal Law Governing Where a Federal Crime May Be Tried

Charles Doyle
Senior Specialist in American Public Law

Federal law promises criminal defendants a proper venue, that is, a trial in the district in which the federal crime was committed. A crime is committed in any district in which any of its "conduct" elements are committed. Some offenses are committed entirely within a single district; there they must be tried. Others begin in one district and are completed in another. They may be tried where they occur unless Congress has limited the choice of venue for the particular offense. Still others, while fully committed in one district, continue on through one or more other districts. They too may be tried where they occur unless Congress elected to limit where they may be tried. Conspiracy is one of the continuing offenses, and so it may be tried in any district in which an overt act in its furtherance is committed. 

Crimes for which there is otherwise no proper venue within the United States because they have been committed entirely overseas are usually tried in the district into which the accused is first brought. 

The court may grant a change of venue at the behest of the defendant to avoid undue prejudice, for the convenience of the parties, or for sentencing purposes. 

This report is an abridged version of CRS Report RL33223,
Venue: A Legal Analysis of Where a Federal Crime May Be Tried, by Charles Doyle, stripped of the footnotes and most of the citations to authority found in the longer version.


Date of Report: March 24, 2010
Number of Pages: 9
Order Number:RS22361
Price: $29.95

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