---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 808"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "808"
heading: "Art. 8. Apprehension of deserters"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/808"
units:
  - "Subtitle A — General Military Law"
  - "Part II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 47 — Uniform Code of Military Justice"
  - "Subchapter II — Apprehension and Restraint"
---

# §808. Art. 8. Apprehension of deserters


Any civil [officer](/usc/10/101.md?p=b-1) having authority to apprehend offenders under the laws of the [United States](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-1) or of a [State](/usc/10/4951.md?p=4), Commonwealth, possession, or the District of Columbia may summarily apprehend a deserter from the [armed forces](/usc/10/101.md?p=a-4) and deliver him into the custody of those forces.


## Source credit

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 40; Pub. L. 109–163, div. A, title X, § 1057(a)(4), Jan. 6, 2006, 119 Stat. 3440.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 808 | 50:562. | May 5, 1950, ch. 169, § 1 (Art. 8), 64 Stat. 111. |

The word “may” is substituted for the words “It shall be lawful for * * * to”. The words “a State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession, or the District of Columbia” are substituted for the words “any State, District, Territory, or possession of the United States”. The words “of the United States”, before the words “and deliver”, are omitted as surplusage. The words “those forces” are substituted for the words “the armed forces of the United States”, after the words “custody of”.

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2006—Pub. L. 109–163 substituted “Commonwealth, possession,” for “Territory, Commonwealth, or possession,”.