Prosecutions for May 2011
Referring Agency: Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during May 2011 the government reported 8509 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 down 10.8% 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 2011 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-4.6 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 117.3 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 prosecutions is 33.6 percent instead of 117.3 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 May 2011 was for "Immigration", accounting for 86.6 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (7.6%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In May 2011, 7036 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 May 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 54.5 percent of all magistrate filings in May.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (30.6%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In May 2011, 1473 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during May there were an additional 2007 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 May.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during May 2011referred by the Immigration and Customs in Homeland Security.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 2,098 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 274 2 3 3 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 245 3 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 207 4 7 7 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 175 5 5 4 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 70 6 4 6 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 34 7 9 9 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 28 8 6 5 More 18 USC 911 - False personification - Citizen of the US 28 8 8 12 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 16 10 10 10 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 16 10 13 8 More 42 USC 408 - Fed Old Age, Survivors & Disab Insur -Penalties 16 10 21 23 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 "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 "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.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 114.1 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—121 percent—was registered for prosecutions under " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 26 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 prosecutions— 36.8 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 May 2011 the Justice Department said the government brought 1360.2 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 16,953 455 1 3 4 More N Mexico 15,585 261 2 5 5 More Arizona 13,227 727 3 4 3 More Texas, W 11,215 573 4 2 2 More Texas, S 7,548 529 5 1 1 More Wyoming 3,748 17 6 51 61 More Nebraska 2,004 30 7 33 47 More Utah 1,767 41 8 11 10 More Ala, S 1,599 11 9 71 75 More N Dakota 1,484 8 10 29 26 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of California (San Diego)—with 16953 prosecutions as compared with 1360.2 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during May 2011. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 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 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Utah , now ranked 8th , and North Dakota at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 11th and 29th one year ago and 10th and 26th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 127.8 percent—was Southern District of Alabama (Mobile). This was the same district that had the largest increase— 241.7 percent—when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 23.5 percent—was North Dakota . This was the same district that had the largest increase— 10.1 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 of this type during May 2011 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Bury, David C. Arizona 104 1 19 22 More Jorgenson, Cindy K. Arizona 100 2 21 21 More Collins, Raner Christercunean Arizona 95 3 19 18 More Conway, John Edwards N Mexico 76 4 31 19 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 69 5 5 4 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 68 6 4 8 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 67 7 6 9 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 63 8 7 5 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 62 9 2 1 More Kazen, George P. Texas, S 58 10 3 3 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 filings per capita.
Judge David C. Bury in the District of Arizona ranked 1st with 104 defendants in cases.
Judge Cindy K. Jorgenson in the District of Arizona ranked 2nd with 100 defendants in cases.
Judge Raner Christercunean Collins in the District of Arizona ranked 3rd with 95 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: August 16, 2011
