Prosecutions for July 2009
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2009 the government reported 732 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 down 0.4% 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 only slightlydown (-1.2 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 8.9 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 July 2009 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 69.1 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" ( 13%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (12.2%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In July 2009, 115 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 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving the "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 42.6 percent of all magistrate filings in July.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (27%), "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A" (6.1%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In July 2009, 617 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July there were an additional 83 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 2009referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 419 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A 66 2 2 3 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 31 3 4 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 28 4 3 4 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 14 5 6 5 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 10 6 5 6 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 4 7 7 7 More 18 USC 1958 - Interstate commerce facilities - murder for hire 4 7 25 20 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 4 7 11 24 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 4 7 11 12 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 "Firearms; Penalties" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 924. "Firearms; Penalties" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 924 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was the 2 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 300 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1958 that involves " Interstate commerce facilities - murder for hire ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—133.3 percent—was registered for prosecutions under " Bank robbery and incidental crimes " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 46.2 percent—was Bank robbery and incidental crimes (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 49.5 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 July 2009 the Justice Department said the government brought 281.2 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 La, M 2,355 15 1 60 61 More Tenn, W 2,346 30 2 8 30 More Montana 1,267 10 3 59 46 More Wyoming 1,170 5 4 40 67 More Tenn, E 1,132 23 5 15 8 More N Car, E 1,080 31 6 5 1 More N Car, M 953 21 7 7 23 More Okla, N 861 7 8 32 51 More Ind, N 858 18 9 14 39 More Ga, S 851 10 10 33 40 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge)—with 2355 prosecutions as compared with 281.2 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during July 2009.
The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd. The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) was ranked 8 a year ago.
District of Montana is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of Indiana (South Bend), now ranked 9th , and Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) at 5th In the same order, these districts ranked 14th and 15th one year ago and 39th and 8th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 92.9 percent—was Southern District of Georgia (Savannah). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 101.8 percent—was Northern District of Indiana (South Bend).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 40 percent—was Wyoming . But over the past five years, Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh) showed the largest drop— 10 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 2009 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Greer, J. Ronnie Tenn, E 10 1 More Brady, James J. La, M 9 2 More Donald, Bernice B. Tenn, W 9 2 More McCalla, Jon Phipps Tenn, W 9 2 More Lawson, Hugh Ga, M 8 5 More Lozano, Rodolfo Ind, N 8 5 More Boyle, Terrence William N Car, E 8 5 More Miller, Robert Lowell Jr. Ind, N 6 8 More Tyson, Ralph E. La, M 6 8 More Jackson, Carol E. Mo, E 6 8 More Conrad, Robert James Jr. N Car, W 6 8 More Jack, Janis Graham Texas, S 6 8 More
Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 8 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 4 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 10 defendants in cases.
Judges James J. Brady in the Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge), Bernice B. Donald in the Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) and Jon Phipps McCalla in the Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd with 9 defendants in cases.
