Prosecutions for December 2009
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2009 the government reported 676 new prosecutions 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 9.6% 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 2009 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-7.2 percent). Prosecutions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are down 10.8 percent from levels reported in 2004.
The decrease 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. 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 prosecutions of these matters in December 2009 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 65.7 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen " (15.1%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (8.4%), "Violence-Other" (3.1%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.7%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In December 2009, 92 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 December the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving the "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 50 percent of all magistrate filings in December.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A" (25%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In December 2009, 584 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during December there were an additional 61 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 December.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during December 2009referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 377 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A 66 2 2 3 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 29 3 3 4 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 23 4 6 6 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 16 5 4 2 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 10 6 5 5 More 18 USC 844 - Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives 8 7 10 9 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 5 8 18 18 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 4 9 7 6 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 3 10 23 15 More
Table 2: Top charges filed
"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 the 1 most frequently invoked 5 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 the 3 most frequently invoked 5 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 the 4 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 166.7 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113 that involves " Bank robbery and incidental crimes ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—200 percent—was registered for prosecutions 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 prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 49.1 percent—was Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 46.2 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts " (Title 26 U.S.C Section 5861 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In December 2009 the Justice Department said the government brought 259.1 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 Tenn, W 1,564 20 1 4 30 More N Car, M 1,135 25 2 3 21 More N Car, E 1,045 30 3 5 10 More N Dakota 941 5 4 86 74 More Ala, S 890 6 5 48 68 More R. I. 791 7 6 70 79 More Miss, N 768 7 7 72 63 More Mo, W 691 17 8 13 2 More Virg, E 691 32 8 2 3 More La, E 689 8 10 80 57 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis)—with 1564 prosecutions as compared with 259.1 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during December 2009. The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) was ranked 4 a year ago.
The Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro) ranked 2nd. The Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro) was ranked 3 a year ago.
Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh) is now ranking 3rd. The Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh) was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 10 five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Western District of Missouri (Kansas City), now ranked 8th , and Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) at 5th In the same order, these districts ranked 13th and 48th one year ago and 2nd and 68th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 100 percent—was Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 134.4 percent—was Western District of Tennessee (Memphis).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 22.1 percent—was Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro). But over the past five years, Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) showed the largest drop— 23.8 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 December 2009 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Lee, Gerald Bruce Virg, E 17 1 More Chatigny, Robert N. Conn 16 2 More Ludington, Thomas Lamson Mich, E 11 3 More Mattice, Harry Sandlin Jr. Tenn, E 10 4 More Hittner, David Texas, S 9 5 More St. Eve, Amy J. Ill, N 8 6 More Boyle, Terrence William N Car, E 8 6 More Jones, James Parker Virg, W 8 6 More Vratil, Kathryn Hoefer Kansas 7 9 More Dever, James C. III N Car, E 7 9 More Donald, Bernice B. Tenn, W 7 9 More
Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 4 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capita, while the remaining 7 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria) ranked 1st with 17 defendants in cases.
Judge Robert N. Chatigny in the District of Connecticut ranked 2nd with 16 defendants in cases.
Judge Thomas Lamson Ludington in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) ranked 3rd with 11 defendants in cases.
