Frank v. United States

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Petitioner was charged with criminal contempt of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. The charge resulted from his violation of an injunction issued by that court at the request of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The injunction restrained petitioner from using interstate facilities in the sale of certain oil interests without having filed a registration statement with the Commission. Petitioner’s demand for a jury trial was denied. He was convicted, and the court suspended imposition of sentence and placed him on probation for three years. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Frank v. United States, 384 F. 2d 276 (C. A. 10th Cir. 1967). We granted certiorari, 392 U. S. 925 (1968), to determine whether petitioner was entitled to a jury trial. We conclude that he was not.

The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution gives defendants a right to a trial by jury in “all criminal prosecutions.” However, it has long been the rule that so-called “petty” offenses may be tried without a jury. See, e. g., District of Columbia v. Clawans, 300 U. S. 617 (1937). For purposes of the right to trial by jury, criminal contempt is treated just like all other criminal offenses. The defendant is entitled to a jury trial unless the particular offense can be classified as “petty.” Dyke v. Taylor Implement Mfg. Co., 391 U. S. 216 (1968); Bloom v. Illinois, 391 U. S. 194 (1968); Cheff v. Schnackenberg, 384 U. S. 373 (1966).

In determining whether a particular offense can be classified as “petty,” this Court has sought objective indications of the seriousness with which society regards the offense. District of Columbia v. Clawans, supra, at 628. The most relevant indication of the seriousness of an offense is the severity of the penalty authorized for its commission. Thus, in Clawans this Court held that a jury trial was not required in a prosecution for engaging in a certain business without a license, an offense carrying a maximum sentence of 90 days. Recently, we held that a jury trial was required in a state prosecution for simple battery, an offense carrying a possible prison sentence of two years. Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U. S. 145 (1968).

In ordinary criminal prosecutions, the severity of the penalty authorized, not the penalty actually imposed, is the relevant criterion. In such cases, the legislature has included within the definition of the crime itself a judgment about the seriousness of the offense. See Duncan v. Louisiana, supra, at 162, n. 3535 .. But a person may be found in contempt of court for a great many different types of offenses, ranging from disrespect for the court to acts otherwise criminal. Congress, perhaps in recognition of the scope of criminal contempt, has authorized courts to impose penalties but has not placed any specific limits on their discretion; it has not categorized contempts as “serious” or “petty.” 18 U. S. C. §§401, 402.1 Accordingly, this Court has held that in prosecutions for criminal contempt where no maximum penalty is authorized, the severity of the penalty actually imposed is the best indication of the seriousness of the particular offense.2 See, e. g., Cheff v. Schnackenberg, supra. Thus, this Court has held that sentences for criminal contempt of up to six months may constitutionally be imposed without a jury trial. Ibid.3

The Government concedes that a jury trial would have been necessary in the present case if petitioner had received a sentence in excess of six months. Indeed, the Government concedes that petitioner may be sentenced to no more than six months if he violates the terms of his probation.4 However, the Government argues that petitioner’s actual penalty is one which may be imposed upon those convicted of otherwise petty offenses, and, thus, that a jury trial was not required in the present case. We agree.

Numerous federal and state statutory schemes allow significant periods of probation to be imposed for otherwise petty offenses. For example, under federal law, most offenders may be placed on probation for up to five years in lieu of or, in certain cases, in addition to a term of imprisonment. See 18 TJ. S. C. § 3651. Congress, in making the probation statute applicable to “any offense not punishable by death or life imprisonment,” clearly made it apply to petty, as well as more serious, offenses. In so doing, it did not indicate that the additional penalty of a term of probation was to place otherwise petty offenses in the “serious” category. In other words, Congress decided that petty offenses may be punished by any combination of penalties authorized by 18 U. S. C. § 1 and 18 U. S. C. § 3651. Therefore, the maximum penalty authorized in petty offense cases is not simply six months’ imprisonment and a $500 fine. A petty offender may be placed on probation for up to five years and, if the terms of probation are violated, he may then be imprisoned for six months. 18 U. S. C. § 3653.

In Cheff, this Court undertook to categorize criminal contempts for purposes of the right to trial by jury. In the exercise of its supervisory power over the lower federal courts, the Court decided by analogy to 18 U. S. C. § 1 that penalties not exceeding those authorized for petty offenses could be imposed in criminal contempt cases without affording the right to a jury trial.5 We think the analogy used in Cheff should apply equally here. Penalties presently authorized by Congress for petty offenses, including a term on probation, may be imposed in federal criminal contempt cases without a jury trial. Probation is, of course, a significant infringement of personal freedom, but it is certainly less onerous a restraint than jail itself.6 In noncontempt cases, Congress has not viewed the possibility of five years’ probation as onerous enough to make an otherwise petty offense “serious.” This Court is ill-equipped to make a contrary determination for contempt cases. As this Court said in Clawans, “[d]oubts must be resolved, not subjectively by recourse of the judge to his own sympathy and emotions, but by objective standards such as may be observed in the laws and practices of the community taken as a gauge of its social and ethical judgments.” 300 U. S., at 628.

Petitioner’s sentence is within the limits of the congressional definition of petty offenses. Accordingly, it was not error to deny him a jury trial.

Affirmed.