                 TITLE 18--CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
 
                             PART I--CRIMES
 
                    CHAPTER 41--EXTORTION AND THREATS
 
Sec. 879. Threats against former Presidents and certain other 
        persons
        
    (a) Whoever knowingly and willfully threatens to kill, kidnap, or 
inflict bodily harm upon--
        (1) a former President or a member of the immediate family of a 
    former President;
        (2) a member of the immediate family of the President, the 
    President-elect, the Vice President, or the Vice President-elect;
        (3) a major candidate for the office of President or Vice 
    President, or a member of the immediate family of such candidate; or
        (4) a person protected by the Secret Service under section 
    3056(a)(6);

shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or 
both.
    (b) As used in this section--
        (1) the term ``immediate family'' means--
            (A) with respect to subsection (a)(1) of this section, the 
        wife of a former President during his lifetime, the widow of a 
        former President until her death or remarriage, and minor 
        children of a former President until they reach sixteen years of 
        age; and
            (B) with respect to subsection (a)(2) and (a)(3) of this 
        section, a person to whom the President, President-elect, Vice 
        President, Vice President-elect, or major candidate for the 
        office of President or Vice President--
                (i) is related by blood, marriage, or adoption; or
                (ii) stands in loco parentis;

        (2) the term ``major candidate for the office of President or 
    Vice President'' means a candidate referred to in subsection (a)(7) 
    of section 3056 of this title; and
        (3) the terms ``President-elect'' and ``Vice President-elect'' 
    have the meanings given those terms in section 871(b) of this title.

(Added Pub. L. 97-297, Sec. 1(a), Oct. 12, 1982, 96 Stat. 1317; amended 
Pub. L. 98-587, Sec. 3(a), Oct. 30, 1984, 98 Stat. 3111; Pub. L. 103-
322, title XXXIII, Sec. 330016(1)(H), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147; 
Pub. L. 106-544, Sec. 2(a), (b)(1), Dec. 19, 2000, 114 Stat. 2715.)


                               Amendments

    2000--Pub. L. 106-544, Sec. 2(b)(1), struck out ``protected by the 
Secret Service'' after ``other persons'' in section catchline.
    Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 106-544, Sec. 2(a)(1)-(4), in par. (3), 
substituted ``a member of the immediate family'' for ``the spouse'', 
added par. (4), and, in concluding provisions, struck out ``who is 
protected by the Secret Service as provided by law,'' before ``shall be 
fined'' and substituted ``5 years'' for ``three years''.
    Subsec. (b)(1)(B). Pub. L. 106-544, Sec. 2(a)(5), in introductory 
provisions, inserted ``and (a)(3)'' after ``subsection (a)(2)'' and 
substituted ``Vice President-elect, or major candidate for the office of 
President or Vice President'' for ``or Vice President-elect''.
    1994--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103-322 substituted ``fined under this 
title'' for ``fined not more than $1,000'' in concluding provisions.
    1984--Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 98-587 substituted ``subsection (a)(7) 
of section 3056 of this title'' for ``the first section of the joint 
resolution entitled `Joint resolution to authorize the United States 
Secret Service to furnish protection to major Presidential or Vice 
Presidential candidates', approved June 6, 1968 (18 U.S.C. 3056 note)''.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 115, 3056, 3486, 4247 of 
this title.
