Convictions for August 2012
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during August 2012 the government reported 740 new convictions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 1.4% 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 only slightly down (-1 percent). Convictions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are down 6.5 percent from levels reported in 2007.
The leveling out 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. To view trends year-by-year rather than month-by-month, see TRAC's annual report series for a broader picture.
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
The largest number of convictions of these matters in August 2012 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 62.3 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (11.9%), " Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (11.8%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (8.5%), "Violence-Other" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In August 2012, no 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.
Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In August 2012, 740 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during August 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 August.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during August 2012referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 420 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 83 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 76 3 3 3 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 25 4 4 4 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 21 5 5 6 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 12 6 6 5 More 18 USC 1962 - RICO - prohibited activities 9 7 11 11 More 18 USC 1959 - Violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity 7 8 - 14 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 4 9 8 7 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 3 10 15 38 More 18 USC 1958 - Interstate commerce facilities - murder for hire 3 10 - 14 More Table 2: Top charges for convictions
"Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) 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 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 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 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 40.7 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 that involves " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—600 percent—was registered for convictions under " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 19.1 percent—was Attempt and conspiracy (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions— 41.3 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts " (Title 26 U.S.C Section 5861 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In August 2012 the Justice Department said the government obtained 289.2 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 Tenn, E 2,006 42 1 1 31 More Tenn, W 1,622 21 2 6 19 More R. I. 1,139 10 3 69 79 More Virg, W 1,130 20 4 30 5 More Wyoming 1,102 5 5 74 66 More Iowa, S 986 14 6 47 50 More N Car, E 919 28 7 2 15 More La, M 915 6 8 56 77 More Ga, S 903 11 9 14 22 More Kansas 851 20 10 22 24 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville)—with 2006 convictions as compared with 289.2 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during August 2012. The Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) was ranked 1 a year ago.
The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd. The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) was ranked 6 a year ago.
District of Rhode Island is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Southern District of Georgia (Savannah), now ranked 9th , and Kansas at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 14th and 22nd one year ago and 22nd and 24th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago— 63.3 percent—was Southern District of Iowa (Des Moines). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 127.3 percent—was Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions— 43.2 percent—was Southern District of Georgia (Savannah). But over the past five years, Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) showed the largest drop— 38.7 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 resulting in convictions of this type during August 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Greer, J. Ronnie Tenn, E 24 1 11 41 More Nelson, Susan Richard Minnesota 11 2 - - More Nugent, Donald C. Ohio, N 10 3 92 138 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 10 3 23 85 More Campbell, Todd J. Tenn, M 9 5 18 138 More Sachs, Howard Frederic Mo, W 8 6 82 44 More Boyle, Terrence William N Car, E 8 6 5 52 More Dever, James C., III N Car, E 8 6 8 44 More Hood, Joseph Martin Ken, E 7 9 303 138 More Russell, Thomas B. Ken, W 7 9 48 112 More Mattice, Harry Sandlin, Jr. Tenn, E 7 9 1 63 More Donald, Bernice Bouie Tenn, W 7 9 21 34 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 5 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of convictions per capita, while the remaining 7 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge J. Ronnie Greer in the Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) ranked 1st with 24 convicted in convictions.
Judge Susan Richard Nelson in the District of Minnesota ranked 2nd with 11 convicted in convictions.
Judges Donald C. Nugent in the Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) and Randy Crane in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 10 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: November 19, 2012
