Convictions for April 2011
Referring Agency: Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2011 the government reported 8734 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 up 2.9% 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 2011 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was down (-6.3 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 109.9 percent from levels reported in 2006.
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 45.6 percent instead of 109.9 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. 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. 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 2011 was for "Immigration", accounting for 91.9 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (4.1%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In April 2011, 5920 defendants in cases for these matters were filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. These courts handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In addition, complaints are sometimes filed in the magistrate courts before an indictment or information is entered. In these cases, the matter starts in the magistrate courts and later moves to the district court where subsequent proceedings take place.
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 81.7 percent of all magistrate convictions in April.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (13.9%).
Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In April 2011, 2814 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during April there were an additional 0 defendants whose cases moved from the magistrate courts to the U.S. district courts after an indictment or information was filed. The sections which follow cover both sets of cases and therefore cover all matters filed in district court during April.
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 2011referred by the Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,821 1 1 1 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 259 2 2 2 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 183 3 3 3 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 88 4 4 7 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 88 4 5 4 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 62 6 6 5 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 55 7 7 6 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 35 8 8 13 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 22 9 11 11 More 18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 20 10 9 9 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 ranked 1 five 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 ranked 2 five 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 ranked 3 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions—up 54.2 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 911 that involves " False personification - Citizen of the US ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—158.4 percent—was registered for convictions under " Material involving sexual exploitation of minors " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2252 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 18.8 percent—was Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease— 31.9 %—when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In April 2011 the Justice Department said the government obtained 1099.9 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 11,662 313 1 4 5 More N Mexico 9,255 155 2 5 4 More Texas, S 8,789 616 3 1 1 More Arizona 7,987 439 4 3 3 More Texas, W 7,829 400 5 2 2 More N Dakota 3,339 18 6 30 26 More Iowa, N 1,748 19 7 57 36 More Utah 1,724 40 8 16 13 More Ill, S 1,507 16 9 65 59 More Kansas 1,447 34 10 35 35 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of California (San Diego)—with 11662 convictions as compared with 1099.9 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during April 2011. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use 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 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
Southern District of Texas (Houston) is now ranking 3rd. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Utah , now ranked 8th , and North Dakota at 6th In the same order, these districts ranked 16th and 30th one year ago and 13th and 26th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago— 286.4 percent—was Northern District of Iowa (Cedar Rapids). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 105.2 percent—was Utah .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions— 23.5 percent—was New Mexico . This was the same district that had the largest increase— 10.7 percent—when compared with five years ago.
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 2011 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Kazen, George P. Texas, S 183 1 3 3 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 67 2 4 5 More Collins, Raner Christercunean Arizona 62 3 14 18 More Briones, David Texas, W 59 4 7 9 More Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 56 5 10 7 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 54 6 5 8 More Tagle, Hilda G. Texas, S 54 6 6 6 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 52 8 2 2 More Jorgenson, Cindy K. Arizona 48 9 15 18 More Conway, John Edwards N Mexico 46 10 32 15 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 George P. Kazen in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 183 convicted in convictions. Judge Kazen appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 3) and five years ago (rank 3).
Judge Randy Crane in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd with 67 convicted in convictions. Judge Crane appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 4) and five years ago (rank 5).
Judge Raner Christercunean Collins in the District of Arizona ranked 3rd with 62 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: July 19, 2011
