Environment Convictions for December 2017

Number Latest Month 16
Number Previous Month 7
Percent Change from 1 year ago -18.1
Percent Change from 5 years ago -50.6
Table 1. Criminal Environment Convictions

The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2017 the government reported 16 new environment convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up from 7 the previous month.

The comparisons of the number of defendants convicted for environment-related offenses are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (see Table 2).

When monthly 2017 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was down (-18.1%). Convictions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are down 50.6 percent from levels reported in 2012.

Bar and line plot of FYMON

Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Environment Convictions

The decrease from the levels five years ago in environment convictions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 2. The vertical bars in Figure 2 represent the number of environment convictions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. Where a prosecution was initially filed in U.S. Magistrate Court and then transferred to the U.S. District Court, the magistrate filing date was used since this provides an earlier indicator of actual trends. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. To view trends year-by-year rather than month-by-month, see TRAC's annual report series for a broader picture.

Number of Defendants in Environment Cases

Table 2 lists all separate cases with the number of defendants.

Case Defendant #  
2017 - Texas, E (Tyler) Case: 1 1 Details
2017 - Texas, E (Tyler) Case: 1 2 Details
2017 - Texas, E (Tyler) Case: 1 3 Details
2017 - Arizona (Phoenix) Case: 2 1 Details
2017 - Cal, C (Los Angeles) Case: 3 1 Details
2017 - Cal, N (San Francisco) Case: 4 1 Details
2017 - Cal, S (San Diego) Case: 5 1 Details
2017 - Conn (New Haven) Case: 6 1 Details
2017 - Fla, S (Miami) Case: 7 1 Details
2017 - Mich, W (Grand Rapids) Case: 8 1 Details
2017 - N Car, E (Raleigh) Case: 9 1 Details
2017 - N Car, E (Raleigh) Case: 10 1 Details
2017 - N Car, E (Raleigh) Case: 11 1 Details
2017 - N. Y., N (Syracuse) Case: 12 1 Details
2017 - N. Y., W (Buffalo) Case: 13 1 Details
2017 - Virg, E (Alexandria) Case: 14 1 Details
Table 2. Number of Defendants per Case

Report Generated: January 24, 2018
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Copyright 2018, TRAC Reports, Inc.

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