Convictions for July 2011
Referring Agency: Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2011 the government reported 7160 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 12.3% 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 only slightly down (-1.9 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 126.4 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 46.2 percent instead of 126.4 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 July 2011 was for "Immigration", accounting for 89.7 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (4.7%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (2.8%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In July 2011, 4225 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 July 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 69 percent of all magistrate convictions in July.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (23.5%).
Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In July 2011, 2935 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July 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 July.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during July 2011referred by the Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 2,062 1 1 1 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 184 2 2 2 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 153 3 3 3 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 110 4 6 4 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 73 5 4 7 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 56 6 7 6 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 46 7 5 5 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 39 8 8 12 More 18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 23 9 9 10 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 18 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 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 22 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 that involves " Fraud and related activity - id documents ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—165.1 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 27.1 percent—was Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1546 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions— 27.8 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. " (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In July 2011 the Justice Department said the government obtained 1147.2 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 Arizona 15,137 832 1 4 3 More Cal, S 10,693 287 2 3 5 More N Mexico 9,076 152 3 5 4 More Texas, W 8,220 420 4 2 2 More Texas, S 5,978 419 5 1 1 More Wyoming 3,969 18 6 75 47 More Iowa, N 2,484 27 7 55 27 More Idaho 1,863 24 8 38 40 More Utah 1,853 43 9 10 11 More N Dakota 1,670 9 10 27 31 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The District of Arizona—with 15137 convictions as compared with 1147.2 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during July 2011. The District of Arizona was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
District of New Mexico is now ranking 3rd. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were North Dakota , now ranked 10th , and Idaho at 8th In the same order, these districts ranked 27th and 38th one year ago and 31st and 40th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago— 416.7 percent—was Wyoming . This was the same district that had the largest increase— 106.7 percent—when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions— 32.2 percent—was New Mexico . This was the same district that had the largest increase— 7.3 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 July 2011 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Collins, Raner Christercunean Arizona 166 1 14 17 More Bury, David C. Arizona 165 2 21 13 More Jorgenson, Cindy K. Arizona 164 3 16 16 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 75 4 6 7 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 65 5 4 8 More Martinez, Philip Ray Texas, W 64 6 9 9 More Tagle, Hilda G. Texas, S 62 7 11 6 More Briones, David Texas, W 56 8 7 5 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 51 9 5 4 More Conway, John Edwards N Mexico 42 10 27 21 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 Raner Christercunean Collins in the District of Arizona ranked 1st with 166 convicted in convictions.
Judge David C. Bury in the District of Arizona ranked 2nd with 165 convicted in convictions.
Judge Cindy K. Jorgenson in the District of Arizona ranked 3rd with 164 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: October 20, 2011
