Fugitive Felon Act
The Fugitive Felon Act, abbreviated FFA, is a United States federal law that criminalizes interstate flight in order to avoid prosecution or giving testimony in state felony proceedings, a crime termed unlawful flight.
| Long title | An Act making it unlawful for any person to flee from one State to another for the purpose of avoiding prosecution or the giving of testimony in certain cases |
|---|---|
| Acronyms (colloquial) | FFA |
| Enacted by | the 73rd United States Congress |
| Effective | May 18, 1934 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | 73-234 |
| Statutes at Large | 48 Stat. 782 |
| Codification | |
| Titles amended | 18 U.S.C.: Crimes and Criminal Procedure |
| U.S.C. sections created | 18 U.S.C. § 1073 |
| Legislative history | |
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The FFA was introduced to the Senate by Committee on Commerce chairman Royal S. Copeland in January 1934, and was signed into law in May of that year. The law was intended to hasten the process of apprehending and prosecuting members of armed gangs who could easily move across state lines; pre-existing procedures for interstate rendition were cumbersome and expensive and the lack of federal jurisdiction meant that state law enforcement could not cross interstate boundaries in pursuit of a criminal. Although the latter was addressed by the Act by virtue of empowering federal law enforcement to arrest fugitives charged with state crimes, the FFA's other intended goal of circumventing interstate rendition procedures has not been carried out and extradition of captured fugitives to the prosecuting state remains a state affair.
Although the FFA lists a punishment for unlawful flight, actual prosecutions under it are rare because the Act is intended as an instrument allowing federal authorities to arrest fugitives fleeing state charges.