republic-os/legal/us/code/title-18/chapter-67/section-1384.md

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LegalText	18 U.S.C. § 1384	Prostitution near military and naval establishments	us	united_states_code	code_section	18	CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE	67	MILITARY AND NAVY	1384	18 U.S.C. § 1384	current	119-100	2026-06-26	official	https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc18@119-100.zip	/us/usc/t18/s1384	data/legal/raw/us/code/title-18/usc18.xml	830a5e318d78853520da70866d9479dae1626e9c9eec4e4df8f2c3a6df158fa5	1a1bbbbdb59e376ada4eb7ad1056fd68d396679ee7ab59f0561af15006122708	4eee4af93fb6810acf7bd3e07f145c07892220eab97dfba8273ccb92b793303a	2026-07-04	official	legal us-code

18 U.S.C. § 1384 - Prostitution near military and naval establishments

Text

Within such reasonable distance of any military or naval camp, station, fort, post, yard, base, cantonment, training or mobilization place as the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Air Force, or any two or all of them shall determine to be needful to the efficiency, health, and welfare of the Army, the Navy, or the Air Force, and shall designate and publish in general orders or bulletins, whoever engages in prostitution or aids or abets prostitution or procures or solicits for purposes of prostitution, or keeps or sets up a house of ill fame, brothel, or bawdy house, or receives any person for purposes of lewdness, assignation, or prostitution into any vehicle, conveyance, place, structure, or building, or permits any person to remain for the purpose of lewdness, assignation, or prostitution in any vehicle, conveyance, place, structure, or building or leases or rents or contracts to lease or rent any vehicle, conveyance, place, structure or building, or part thereof, knowing or with good reason to know that it is intended to be used for any of the purposes herein prohibited shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. The Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force and the Federal Security Administrator shall take such steps as they deem necessary to suppress and prevent such violations thereof, and shall accept the cooperation of the authorities of States and their counties, districts, and other political subdivisions in carrying out the purpose of this section. This section shall not be construed as conferring on the personnel of the Departments of the Army, Navy, or Air Force or the Federal Security Agency any authority to make criminal investigations, searches, seizures, or arrests of civilians charged with violations of this section.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 765; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, § 35, 63 Stat. 94; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(H), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)

Notes

Historical and Revision Notes

1948 ActBased on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 518a (July 11, 1941, ch. 287, 55 Stat. 583; May 15, 1945, ch. 126, 59 Stat. 168; May 15, 1946, ch. 258, 60 Stat. 182). The word “whoever” was substituted for the words “person, corporation, partnership, or association” in conformity with section 1 of title 1, U.S.C., 1940 ed., General Provisions, as amended and without change of substance. The provisions with reference to punishment of persons subject to military or naval law as provided in the Articles of War and the Articles for the Government of the Navy were omitted, as was the exception of such persons from the punishment provisions of this section. The Articles of War and Articles for the Government of the Navy are sufficiently complete in themselves to authorize the adequate punishment of military or naval personnel for violations of general criminal statutes as well as for disobedience of orders. See Articles of War, Article 96, section 1568 of title 10, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Army, and Articles for the Government of the Navy, Articles 1, 4, 22, 23, section 1200, of title 34, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Navy. The revised section, in this respect, places violations on the same basis as other misdemeanors in violation of the general statutes of the United States and authorizes punishment of persons subject to military or naval law under such law, or in case the military or naval authorities turn the violator over to the civil authorities, the trial and punishment may be under the general law. The phrase “and/or” appearing twice in section 581a of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., was deleted to avoid uncertainty and ambiguity. Words “shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor” were omitted because of definition of misdemeanor in section 1 of this title. Changes were made in phraseology.

1949 ActThis section [section 35] makes the following changes in section 1384 of title 18, U.S.C.: 1. In the first paragraph, substitutes “Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Air Force, and any two or all of them” for “Secretary of the Army or the Secretary of the Navy, or both”, and substitutes “Army, the Navy, or the Air Force,” for “Army or the Navy, or both,”, in view of the establishment in 1947 of the Department of the Air Force, headed by a Secretary. 2. In the second paragraph, substitutes “The Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force” for “The Secretaries of the Army, and Navy”, for the same reason given in item 1 above. 3. In the third paragraph, substitutes “Department of the Army, Navy, or Air Force” for “War or Navy Department” for the same reason given in item 1 above.

Editorial Notes

Amendments1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000” in first par. 1949—Act May 24, 1949, made section applicable to the Air Force which was established as a separate department in 1947, headed by a Secretary.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name Secretary and Department of Health, Education, and Welfare redesignated Secretary and Department of Health and Human Services by section 3508(b) of Title 20, Education.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions Functions of Federal Security Administrator transferred to Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and all agencies of Federal Security Agency transferred to Department of Health, Education, and Welfare by section 5 of Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1953, eff. Apr. 11, 1953, 18 F.R. 2053, 67 Stat. 631, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. Federal Security Agency and office of Administrator were abolished by section 8 of Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1953.