Prosecutions for July 2012
Referring Agency: Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2012 the government reported 9355 new prosecutions 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 2.8% over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged 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 2012 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (8.9 percent). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 124.1 percent from levels reported in 2007.
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 prosecutions is 17.6 percent instead of 124.1 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 prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of prosecutions 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 prosecutions of these matters in July 2012 was for "Immigration", accounting for 89.8 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (5.9%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In July 2012, 8090 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 61.1 percent of all magistrate filings in July.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (28.2%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In July 2012, 1265 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July there were an additional 1623 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 prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during July 2012referred by the Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,686 1 1 1 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 225 2 2 2 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 192 3 4 4 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 145 4 3 3 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 100 5 6 6 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 89 6 5 8 More 18 USC 1544 - Misuse of passport 42 7 13 27 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 31 8 8 7 More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 27 9 14 13 More 18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 23 10 9 11 More Table 2: Top charges filed
"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 "Importation of controlled substances" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 952. "Importation of controlled substances" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 176.8 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1544 that involves " Misuse of passport ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—1093.8 %—when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 33.3 percent—was False personification - Citizen of the US (Title 18 U.S.C Section 911 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 31.9 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Bringing in and harboring certain aliens " (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In July 2012 the Justice Department said the government brought 1128.8 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 prosecutions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Cal, S 22,058 592 1 4 3 More N Mexico 11,524 193 2 5 5 More Arizona 8,496 467 3 1 4 More Texas, W 8,260 422 4 2 2 More Texas, S 6,235 437 5 3 1 More N Dakota 3,154 17 6 32 51 More Ark, W 1,391 15 7 41 44 More Iowa, S 1,127 16 8 67 33 More Fla, S 1,044 58 9 7 7 More Utah 1,034 24 10 8 12 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of California (San Diego)—with 22058 prosecutions as compared with 1128.8 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during July 2012. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 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 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
District of Arizona is now ranking 3rd. The District of Arizona was ranked 1 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 6th , and Western District of Arkansas (Fort Smith) at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 32nd and 41st one year ago and 51st and 44th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 45.5 percent—was Southern District of Iowa (Des Moines). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 221.4 percent—was North Dakota .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 48.1 percent—was Utah . But over the past five years, Southern District of Iowa (Des Moines) showed the largest drop— 40.7 percent.
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 of this type during July 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 115 1 14 2 More Moses, Alia Texas, W 114 2 1 - More Hayes, William Q. Cal, S 74 3 21 23 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 57 4 12 4 More Battaglia, Anthony M. Cal, S 56 5 31 614 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 55 6 3 11 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 52 7 6 13 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 45 8 8 6 More Houston, John A. Cal, S 44 9 24 17 More Bencivengo, Cathy Ann Cal, S 44 9 355 614 More Ramos, Nelva Gonzales Texas, S 44 9 - - More Table 4: Top 10 judges
All 11 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capita. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 1st with 115 defendants in cases.
Judge Alia Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 114 defendants in cases. Judge Mosesalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 1).
Judge William Q. Hayes in the Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 3rd with 74 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: October 1, 2012
