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Federal Court Rules

Overview

"In the federal system, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure play a very significant role in the regulation of the criminal process. The provisions of the Federal Rules apply to the process largely from the point of the filing of a complaint through to the final disposition of the case in the district court, and for many of the steps covered, these provisions are the primary governing law." Wayne T. LaFave, et al., Criminal Procedure § 1.6(d) (6th ed. 2017).

The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure are available for free online; on the member database LexisNexis Digital Library; on the library's in house Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law computers; and in print. The Fed. R. Crim. P. is also available in the US Code. Historical versions of the Fed. R. Crim. P. may also be available. See below for more information.

Finding the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure

Current Rules of Practice & Procedure United States Courts
Includes PDFs of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Bankruptcy Procedure, Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, and Evidence.

United States Code Service - Court Rules: Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
Available on the LexisNexis Digital Library. A search for "United States Code Service" "Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure" will return the pertinent U.S.C.S. volumes.

Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
Available on the library's Lexis computers.
Rules are found in Explore > Federal > USCS Federal Rules Annotated > Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Historical court rules back to 1992 also available. For instructions on finding historical court rules on Lexis, see the Historical US Code page of the United States Code guide.

Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
Available on the library's Westlaw computers.

Historical court rules back to 1990 also available. For instructions on finding historical court rules on Westlaw, see the Historical US Code page of the United States Code guide.

Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
Available on the library's Bloomberg Law computers. From "All Legal Content Search", select U.S. Courts > Court Rules > Federal Court Rules > Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Current rules only.

Federal Criminal Code and Rules West/Thomson Reuters

Federal Criminal Laws and Rules LexisNexis

United States Code
The U.S. Code can be found in multiple places. For a full list please see the United States Code guide.

  • In the U.S.C. (GPO) and the print U.S.C.A. (West), see title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedure.
    • U.S.C.A through Westlaw database access - see the 'Westlaw' tab above.
  • In the print U.S.C.S. (Lexis), see the Court Rules volumes located after Title 54.
    • If accessing the U.S.C.S. via the LexisNexis Digital Library, a search for "United States Code Service" "Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure" will return the pertinent U.S.C.S. volumes.
    • U.S.C.S through Lexis database access - see the 'Lexis' tab above.