Obstruction of Correspondence (18 U.S.C. § 1702): Acts and Penalties

Obstruction of correspondence is a federal felony under 18 U.S.C. § 1702 that criminalizes taking, opening, hiding, or destroying someone else’s mail before it reaches them, when the person acts with intent to obstruct delivery or pry into another’s private affairs. A conviction carries up to five years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both.¹² Because the statute requires a specific mental state, an honest mistake with a neighbor’s letter isn’t a federal crime. What you do after you realize the letter isn’t yours is what matters.

What Mail the Law Protects and When

Section 1702 covers every letter, postal card, and package moving through the federal mail system. Protection attaches while an item sits in a post office, rests inside any “authorized depository for mail matter,” or is in the physical custody of a letter carrier. Authorized depositories include residential mailboxes, cluster box units, collection boxes, and post office boxes.¹

The protective window runs from the moment mail enters the postal system until it has been “delivered to the person to whom it was directed.” That phrasing matters. A package sitting on a porch or a letter tucked inside a curbside mailbox has not yet been delivered to the addressee if you are not the addressee. Someone who walks up and takes the item before the rightful recipient retrieves it is taking mail from an authorized depository, squarely within the statute’s reach.¹

The Four Prohibited Acts

The statute targets four separate categories of conduct, each involving mail that hasn’t reached its intended recipient:

Taking a letter, postal card, or package from a post office, authorized depository, or mail carrier before the addressee receives it.
Opening mail addressed to someone else by breaking the seal or otherwise accessing the contents.
Hiding or embezzling another person’s mail, whether concealing it or diverting the contents for personal use.
Destroying mail so the addressee never receives it, whether by shredding, burning, or any other means.

Each of these acts is a standalone violation. You don’t need to steal the contents to break the law. Simply opening a letter addressed to your roommate, even if you leave the contents untouched, satisfies the conduct element when the required intent is present.¹

Why Intent Decides It

Section 1702 is not a strict-liability crime. The government must prove that the person acted with one of two specific purposes: a “design to obstruct the correspondence” or a desire “to pry into the business or secrets of another.”¹

This mental-state requirement is the line between a federal crime and an honest mistake. Grabbing your neighbor’s electric bill from your mailbox because the carrier stuffed it in the wrong slot is not obstruction. You didn’t intend to interfere with anyone’s correspondence. But if you notice the letter is from a debt collector and open it because you want to see your neighbor’s finances, the intent to pry is there. What separates the two scenarios isn’t the physical act. It’s why you did it.

Courts look at surrounding circumstances to infer intent. Did the person try to hide what they did? Was there a history of conflict with the addressee? Did they stand to gain something by intercepting the mail? Prosecutors don’t need a confession. A pattern of behavior or a clear motive is often enough.

When Opening Someone Else’s Mail Is Allowed

Not every instance of opening another person’s mail is illegal. Several common situations fall outside the statute because the person handling the mail has authorization.

Parents and legal guardians can control the delivery of mail addressed to their minor children. Under Postal Service regulations, a minor’s guardian may receive delivery of the minor’s mail, and if there is no guardian and the minor is unmarried, either parent may do so.³

Power of attorney is another recognized exception. If someone has granted you legal authority to handle their affairs, opening their mail falls within that grant. An employer’s designated mail handler who opens business correspondence addressed to the company is likewise acting within normal authority. In each case, the person opening the mail has some recognized legal right to do so and lacks the intent to obstruct delivery or invade another person’s privacy.

Obstruction vs. Mail Theft

Section 1702 sits alongside a related statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1708, which covers theft or receipt of stolen mail. Both descend from the same original provision and both carry a five-year maximum, but they target different conduct.⁴

Section 1702 focuses on interference itself: taking, opening, hiding, or destroying mail with intent to block delivery or snoop. Section 1708 focuses on theft: stealing mail, obtaining it through fraud, or knowingly possessing mail you know was stolen. The difference shows up in cases like porch piracy, where someone grabs a package to keep the contents. That’s theft under § 1708. By contrast, a landlord who intercepts a tenant’s court summons to prevent an eviction defense is obstructing correspondence under § 1702.

Section 1708 also reaches further downstream. Buying or receiving mail you know was stolen is a crime under § 1708 even if you never touched a mailbox yourself. Section 1702 doesn’t extend to secondhand receivers; it targets the person who first diverts the mail from its intended path.⁴ A separate provision, 18 U.S.C. § 1703, applies when the person interfering with mail is a postal employee acting on mail entrusted to their care.

Penalties and Long-Term Consequences

A conviction under § 1702 carries a maximum of five years in federal prison, a fine, or both.¹ The statute doesn’t specify a dollar amount, but because obstruction of correspondence is punishable by more than one year in prison, it qualifies as a felony, and the maximum fine for a felony under 18 U.S.C. § 3571 is $250,000.²

Actual sentences vary widely. A first-time offender who opened one piece of mail out of curiosity faces a very different outcome than someone who systematically intercepted a neighbor’s financial statements over months. Federal sentencing considers the number of pieces of mail involved, whether the conduct caused financial harm, and the defendant’s criminal history. Judges may impose supervised release after any prison term. If the intercepted mail was valuable or the obstruction caused financial loss, the court can order restitution to compensate the victim.

Federal prosecutors have five years from the date of the offense to bring charges, under the general federal statute of limitations for non-capital crimes at 18 U.S.C. § 3282.⁵

A federal felony also carries collateral fallout beyond prison and fines. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison loses the right to possess firearms or ammunition, a ban that applies for life under federal law unless rights are formally restored.⁶ Voting rights depend on state law and vary significantly, and a federal felony conviction creates lasting obstacles for employment, professional licensing, housing applications, and immigration status for non-citizens.

Handling Misdelivered Mail and Reporting Interference

If you receive mail addressed to someone at a different location, don’t write on the envelope, cross out the address, or open it. Place it back in your mailbox for your carrier or hand it to the carrier directly. If the mail is addressed to the correct location but the named person no longer lives there, write “Not at this address” on the piece without covering the original address, then give it to your carrier or drop it in a collection box. The Postal Service warns that destroying mail not intended for you may violate federal law.⁷

To report suspected mail interference by someone other than a postal employee, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service takes complaints online at uspis.gov/report or by phone at 1-877-876-2455. Call 911 first if you witness mail theft in progress. If you suspect a USPS employee is tampering with or stealing mail, that complaint goes to the USPS Office of Inspector General instead.⁸

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1702 – Obstruction of Correspondence
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine
3
United States Postal Service. Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) 508 – Recipient Services
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1708 – Theft or Receipt of Stolen Mail Matter Generally
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3282 – Offenses Not Capital
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
7
United States Postal Service. How is Undeliverable and Misdelivered Mail Handled
8
United States Postal Inspection Service. Report