Toussie v. United States

• Decision Date: 02 March 1970
• Docket Number: No. 441,441
• Citation: 397 U.S. 112,90 S.Ct. 858,25 L.Ed.2d 156
• Parties: Robert I. TOUSSIE, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

397 U.S. 112

90 S.Ct. 858

25 L.Ed.2d 156

Robert I. TOUSSIE, Petitioner,

v UNITED STATES.

No. 441.

Argued Jan. 14, 1970.

Decided March 2, 1970.

Murray I. Gurfein, New York City, for petitioner.

Francis X. Beytagh, Washington, D.C., for respondent.

Mr. Justice BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court.

Petitioner Robert Toussie was convicted, after a jury trial, of failing to register for the draft. His conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals, 410 F.2d 1156 (C.A.2d Cir.), and we granted certiorari, 396 U.S. 875, 90 S.Ct. 155, 24 L.Ed.2d 133 (1969). For the reasons hereafter set forth we conclude that this prosecution was barred by the statute of limitations and therefore reverse the conviction.

Section 3 of the Universal Military Training and Service Act, 65 Stat. 76, provides that:

'Except as otherwise provided in this title, it shall be the duty of every male citizen * * * who, on the day or days fixed for the first or any subsequent registration, is between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six, to present himself for and submit to registration at such time or times and place or places, and in such manner, as shall be determined by proclamation of the President and by rules and regulations prescribed hereunder.'¹

The applicable presidential proclamation provides that '(p)ersons who were born on or after September 19, 1930, shall be registered on the day they attain the eighteenth anniversary of the day of their birth, or within five days thereafter.'² Since Toussie, an American citizen, was born on June 23, 1941, he was required to register sometime between June 23 and June 28, 1959. He did not do so during that period or at any time thereafter. On May 3, 1967, he was indicted for failing to register and that indictment led to the conviction under review.

Before trial Toussie moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that prosecution was barred by the statute of limitations which provides that '(e)xcept as otherwise expressly provided by law, no person shall be prosecuted, trid, or punished for any offense, not capital, unless the indictment is found * * * within five years next after such offense shall have been committed.' 18 U.S.C. § 3282. Since there is no express provision to the contrary in the Draft Act, Toussie argued that his crime was complete in 1959, and it could not be the subject of a prosecution based on an indictment returned in 1967—eight years thereafter. The Government agreed that the crime was complete in 1959, but argued that it continued to be committed each day that Toussie did not register. The District Court held that the Act imposes a continuing duty to register which lasts until age 26 and that prosecution for failing to perform that duty before the man becomes 26 is timely if the indictment is returned before the defendant becomes 31 years old in this case any time prior to June 23, 1972. 280 F.Supp. 473, 474 (D.C.E.D.N.Y.1967). The Court of Appeals agreed. 410 F.2d, at 1157 1158. If the offense is a continuing one the prosecution was timely, but, if not, the District Court erred in not dismissing the indictment.

In deciding when the statute of limitations begins to run in a given case several considerations guide our decision. The purpose of a statute of limitations is to limit exposure to criminal prosecution to a certain fixed period of time following the occurrence of those acts the legislature has decided to punish by criminal sanctions. Such a limitation is designed to protect individuals from having to defend themselves against charges when the basic facts may have become obscured by the passage of time and to minimize the danger of official punishment because of acts in the far-distant past. Such a time limit may also have the salutary effect of encouraging law enforcement officials promptly to investigate suspected criminal activity. For these reasons and others, we have stated before 'the principle that criminal limitations statutes are 'to be liberally interpreted in favor of repose,' United States v. Scharton, 285 U.S. 518, 522, 52 S.Ct. 416, 417, 76 L.Ed. 917 (1932).' United States v. Habig, 390 U.S. 222, 227, 88 S.Ct. 926, 929, 19 L.Ed.2d 1055 (1968). We have also said that '(s)tatutes of limitations normally begin to run when the crime is complete.' Pendergast v. United States, 317 U.S. 412, 418, 63 S.Ct. 268, 271, 87 L.Ed. 368 (1943); see United States v. Irvine, 98 U.S. 450, 452, 25 L.Ed. 193 (1879). And Congress has declared a policy that the statute of limitations should not be extended '(e) xcept as otherwise expressly provided by law.' 18 U.S.C. § 3282. These principles indicate that the doctrine of continuing offenses should be applied in only limited circumstances since, as the Court of Appeals correctly observed in this case, '(t)he tension between the purpose of a statute of limitations and the continuing offense doctrine is apparent; the latter, for all practical purposes, extends the statute beyond its stated term.' 410 F.2d, at 1158. These considerations do not mean that a particular offense should never be construed as a continuing one. They do, however, require that such a result should not be reached unless the explicit language of the substantive criminal statute compels such a conclusion, or the nature of the crime involved is such that Congress must assuredly have intended that it be treated as a continuing one.

The statute in this case provides that all young men, with certain exceptions, between the ages of 18 and 26 shall register 'at such time or times and place or places' as the President may prescribe. The Government refers to a regulation promulgated under the Act which pro- vides that '(t)he duty of every person subject to registration * * * shall continue at all times, and if for any reason any such person is not registered on the day or one of the days fixed for his registration, he shall immediately present himself for and submit to registration * * *.' 32 CFR § 1611.7(c). It is urged that this regulation only makes explicit what Congress implicitly said in the Act itself, that is that registration is a duty that continues until age 26 and failure to register before then is a criminal offense that can be punished as late as five years after the 26th birthday.

The statute admittedly might be construed as the Government urges, but in light of the history of the draft laws and the principle that continuing offenses are not to be too readily found, we do not feel this particular Act incorporates such a doctrine. The draft law of 1917 provided in § 5 that certain persons were subject to registration and that 'upon proclamation by the President * * * stating the time and place of such registration it shall be the duty of all (such) persons * * * to present themselves for and submit to registration.' 40 Stat. 80. Pursuant to that authority the President proclaimed June 5, 1917, as the first registration day,³ and on that day approximately 10,000,000 young men were registered.⁴ There were no more general draft registrations until August 24, 1918, when the President required all those men who had become subject to registration since June 5, 1917, to come in and register.⁵ Later that year Congress amended the statute, expanded the age group subject to registration,⁶ and provided that 'upon proclamation by the President, * * * stating the time or times and place or places of * * * registration, it shall be the duty of all persons of the designated ages * * * to present themselves for and submit to registration * * *.' 40 Stat. 955—956. Although this provision seemingly would have authorized registrations on different days, the President again issued a proclamation designating a single day, September 12, 1918, as registration day for all those so subject.⁷ That registration was the last under the World War I draft. It is thus clear that throughout the administration of the first draft law, registration was thought of as a single, instantaneous act to be performed at a given time, and failure to register at that time was a completed criminal offense.

As events developed prior to what became World War II, Congress again decided to draft young men for service in the Armed Forces. In the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 it was provided that men subject to registration were to register 'at such time or times and place or places, and in such manner and in such age group or groups, as shall be determined by rules and regulations prescribed hereunder.' 54 Stat. 885. While this language would again have authorized registration on different days for different men, the first proclamation under the new Act set a uniform date, October 16, 1940, for the registration of all men.⁸ It was not until two years later that the President first issued a proclamation setting forth different dates for the registration of different groups of men, and in that same proclamation the President established the basic registration procedure of the present system, that all young men shall register on their 18th birthday.⁹ After the 1940 Act expired on March 31, 1947, Congress again decided to register men for the draft and declared that men between the ages of 18 and 26 would be subject to registration. Selective Service Act of 1948, 62 Stat. 604. Since the authority to register under the 1940 Act had expired, it was necessary to provide for the initial registration of the entire group of men between 18 and 26. In language identical to that found in the statute involved in this case,¹⁰ Congress again left the administrative details to the President and authorized registration 'at such time or times and place or places' as he might designate. We do not think the imposition of the duty to register on men between 18 and 26 and the provision for registration at different times was intended to indicate that the statute of limitations did not begin to run when the crime was first complete. Since at the time of the initial registration under the 1948 Act...