Convictions for March 2012
Referring Agency: Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2012 the government reported 8680 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 10.6% 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 2012 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was up (16.3 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 143.7 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 convictions is 61.1 percent instead of 143.7 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. 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 March 2012 was for "Immigration", accounting for 87.1 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (8.1%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2012, 4932 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 March 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 74.9 percent of all magistrate convictions in March.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (21.2%).
Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In March 2012, 3748 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March 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 March.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during March 2012referred by the Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 2,260 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 288 2 3 3 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 230 3 7 7 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 221 4 2 2 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 174 5 5 4 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 93 6 4 6 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 73 7 6 5 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 50 8 9 10 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 22 9 10 11 More 18 USC 1544 - Misuse of passport 20 10 13 35 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 "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.
Ranked 3rd was "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846. "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 was ranked 7 a year ago, while it was ranked 7 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions—up 387.8 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 that involves " Attempt and conspiracy ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—1425 percent—was registered for convictions under " Misuse of passport " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1544 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 29.3 percent—was Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions— 24.7 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Bringing in and harboring certain aliens " (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In March 2012 the Justice Department said the government obtained 1465 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 Texas, W 17,361 887 1 2 2 More Cal, S 14,904 400 2 4 3 More Arizona 13,627 749 3 3 4 More N Mexico 10,270 172 4 5 5 More Texas, S 6,577 461 5 1 1 More Ala, S 2,036 14 6 66 51 More Iowa, N 1,932 21 7 31 24 More N Dakota 1,855 10 8 39 55 More Wyoming 1,543 7 9 40 66 More Nebraska 1,202 18 10 26 41 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio)—with 17361 convictions as compared with 1465 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during March 2012. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 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 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 for most frequent use five years ago.
District of Arizona is now ranking 3rd. The District of Arizona was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Nebraska , now ranked 10th , and Northern District of Iowa (Cedar Rapids) at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 26th and 31st one year ago and 41st and 24th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago— 105.3 percent—was Southern District of Alabama (Mobile). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 269.9 percent—was Arizona .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions— 28.5 percent—was Southern District of Texas (Houston). But over the past five years, showed the largest drop— 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 resulting in convictions of this type during March 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 144 1 17 27 More Moses, Alia Texas, W 136 2 9 - More Tagle, Hilda G. Texas, S 59 3 8 10 More Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 57 4 12 9 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 57 4 7 6 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 56 6 4 3 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 55 7 2 1 More Conway, John Edwards N Mexico 51 8 22 16 More Briones, David Texas, W 50 9 10 2 More Martinez, Philip Ray Texas, W 49 10 11 8 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 Robert A. Junell in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 144 convicted in convictions.
Judge Alia Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 136 convicted in convictions. Judge Mosesalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 9).
Judge Hilda G. Tagle in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 59 convicted in convictions. Judge Tagle appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 8) and five years ago (rank 10).
Report Generated: June 11, 2012
