Convictions for April 2008
Referring Agency: Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2008 the government reported 7944 new convictions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 9.2% over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants convicted 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 1)
When monthly 2008 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was up (85.6 percent). Convictions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are up 193.7 percent from levels reported in 2003.
The substantial growth in these cases is partly related to increases in the matters filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. If magistrate cases are excluded and only Federal District Court cases are counted, the overall increase in convictions is 26.6 percent instead of 193.7 percent. The evidence suggests that part of the difference may be the result of improvements in the recording of the magistrate cases by the Justice Department.
The increase from the levels five years ago in convictions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of convictions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. The one and five-year rates of change in Table 1 and in the sections that follow are all based upon this six-month moving average.
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
The largest number of convictions of these matters in April 2008 was for "Immigration", accounting for 92.2 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (4.6%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In April 2008, 69 percent of cases for these matters took place in U.S. Magistrate Courts which handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In the magistrate courts in April the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 involving the "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.". This was the lead charge for 91.3 percent of all magistrate convictions in April.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (6.4%).
Convictions in U.S. District Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during April 2008referred by the Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,225 1 1 1 More 8 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 299 2 2 3 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A 231 3 3 2 More 8 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 134 4 5 5 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 98 5 6 7 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 94 6 4 4 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 50 7 7 6 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 37 8 9 14 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 30 9 8 12 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 21 10 12 13 More 18 USC 1001 - Fraud/false statements or entries generally 21 10 11 8 More
Table 2: Top charges for convictions
"Reentry of deported alien" (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Reentry of deported alien" (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was the 1 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324. "Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was the 3 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Ranked 3rd was "Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841. "Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was the 2 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions—up 61.1 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 2252 that involves " Material involving sexual exploitation of minors ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—331.9 %—when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 19.8 percent—was Importation of controlled substances (Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease— 50.6 %—when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In April 2008 the Justice Department said the government obtained 975.6 convictions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of convictions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 convictions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Cal, S 13,502 349 1 3 2 More N Mexico 10,805 176 2 5 5 More Texas, W 8,736 418 3 2 3 More Texas, S 7,392 493 4 1 4 More Arizona 4,495 231 5 4 1 More Fla, S 1,956 107 6 6 6 More Ark, E 1,534 20 7 69 71 More Ala, S 1,324 9 8 51 88 More Idaho 1,309 16 9 49 27 More La, E 1,174 14 10 36 66 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of California (San Diego)—with 13502 convictions as compared with 975.6 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during April 2008. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
The District of New Mexico ranked 2nd. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
Western District of Texas (San Antonio) is now ranking 3rd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans), now ranked 10th , and Idaho at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 36th and 49th one year ago and 66th and 27th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago— 246.2 percent—was Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 1900 percent—was Southern District of Alabama (Mobile).
Top Ranked District Judges
At any one time, there are about 680 federal District Court judges working in the United States. The judges recorded with the largest number of new crime cases resulting in convictions of this type during April 2008 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Briones, David Texas, W 116 1 4 1 More Kazen, George P. Texas, S 93 2 2 7 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 91 3 11 12 More Martinez, Philip Ray Texas, W 88 4 5 2 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 84 5 1 - More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 81 6 6 478 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 74 7 3 - More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 66 8 10 14 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 58 9 7 390 More Thompson, Gordon Jr. Cal, S 40 10 12 4 More
Table 4: Top 10 judges
All 10 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of convictions per capita.
Judge David Briones in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 116 convicted in convictions. Judge Briones appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 4) and five years ago (rank 1).
Judge George P. Kazen in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd with 93 convicted in convictions. Judge Kazen appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 2) and five years ago (rank 7).
Judge Randy Crane in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 91 convicted in convictions.
