---
type: "LegalText"
title: "18 U.S.C. § 3661"
description: "Use of information for sentencing"
jurisdiction: "us"
corpus: "united_states_code"
kind: "code_section"
title_number: 18
title_name: "CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE"
chapter_number: "232"
chapter_name: "MISCELLANEOUS SENTENCING PROVISIONS"
section: "3661"
citation: "18 U.S.C. § 3661"
status: "current"
release_point: "119-100"
release_date: "2026-06-26"
source: "official"
source_url: "https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc18@119-100.zip"
source_identifier: "/us/usc/t18/s3661"
source_file: "data/legal/raw/us/code/title-18/usc18.xml"
source_hash: "4df6eb740bb641d67afe531fd7624a7afa364de84561d6b000aafd5510f5ba1a"
raw_snapshot_hash: "1a1bbbbdb59e376ada4eb7ad1056fd68d396679ee7ab59f0561af15006122708"
text_hash: "35c7a164ef5802d9adbd911cb85575ce4bac10473900394cf77fdb8661e8711f"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-04"
confidence: "official"
tags: ["legal", "us-code"]
---

# 18 U.S.C. § 3661 - Use of information for sentencing

## Text

No limitation shall be placed on the information concerning the background, character, and conduct of a person convicted of an offense which a court of the United States may receive and consider for the purpose of imposing an appropriate sentence.

(Added Pub. L. 91–452, title X, § 1001(a), Oct. 15, 1970, 84 Stat. 951, § 3577; renumbered § 3661, Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 212(a)(1), Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 1987.)

## Notes

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title of 1990 AmendmentPub. L. 101–421, § 1, Oct. 12, 1990, 104 Stat. 909, provided that: “This Act [amending provisions set out as a note under section 3672 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Drug and Alcohol Dependent Offenders Treatment Act of 1989’.”

Short Title of 1986 AmendmentPub. L. 99–570, title I, § 1861(a), Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3207–53, provided that: “This section [amending sections 3672 and 4255 of this title, enacting provisions set out as a note under section 3672 of this title, and amending provisions set out as a note under section 4255 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Drug and Alcohol Dependent Offenders Treatment Act of 1986’.”