Criminal anarchy in the United States is the doctrine that organized government should be overthrown by force or violence, or by assassination of the executive head or of any of the executive officials of government, or by any unlawful means. The advocacy of such doctrine either by word of mouth or writing is a felony in many U.S. states. Circa 1955, the United States Solicitor General said that forty-two States plus Alaska and Hawaii had statutes which in some form prohibited advocacy of the violent overthrow of established government.[1]
At the federal level, criminal anarchy is criminalized by 18 U.S.C. § 2385, which makes it an offense punishable by 20 years' imprisonment to advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government. Violation of this statute can also result in losing one's U.S. citizenship.[2] Criminal anarchy statutes were ruled constitutional in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Gitlow v. New York.