Convictions for July 2012
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2012 the government reported 737 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 11.2% 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 up (1.8 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 7.2 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 July 2012 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 67.7 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (11.1%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (8.1%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (7.5%), "Violence-Other" (3.1%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In July 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 July 2012, 737 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July 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 July.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during July 2012referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 446 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 92 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 45 3 3 3 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 34 4 4 4 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 14 5 5 7 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 14 5 6 5 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 3 7 8 6 More 18 USC 1962 - RICO - prohibited activities 3 7 9 12 More 18 USC 554 - Smuggling goods from the United States 2 9 - - More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 2 9 - - More 18 USC 844 - Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives 2 9 7 8 More 18 USC 931 - Prohibition on purchase,ownership,possession of body armor by felons 2 9 17 18 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 2 9 15 38 More 18 USC 1512 - Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant 2 9 26 14 More 18 USC 1958 - Interstate commerce facilities - murder for hire 2 9 - 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 100 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 that involves " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—900 %—when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 39.4 percent—was Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives (Title 18 U.S.C Section 844 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions— 66.7 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Interstate commerce facilities - murder for hire " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1958 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In July 2012 the Justice Department said the government obtained 288.1 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 Ala, S 1,745 12 1 59 60 More N Car, E 1,641 50 2 1 11 More Alaska 1,402 8 3 67 85 More N Dakota 1,113 6 4 88 75 More Wyoming 1,102 5 5 76 55 More Tenn, W 927 12 6 8 24 More N Car, M 906 21 7 4 15 More Kansas 851 20 8 26 13 More Okla, E 820 5 9 75 90 More Tenn, E 812 17 10 2 37 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Alabama (Mobile)—with 1745 convictions as compared with 288.1 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during July 2012.
The Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh) ranked 2nd. The Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh) was ranked 1 a year ago.
District of Alaska is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Kansas , now ranked 8th , and Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) at 1st In the same order, these districts ranked 26th and 59th one year ago and 13th and 60th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago— 166.7 percent—was North Dakota . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 230 percent—was Alaska .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions— 39 percent—was Western District of Tennessee (Memphis). But over the past five years, Wyoming showed the largest drop— 54.3 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 July 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Flanagan, Louise W. N Car, E 17 1 More Dever, James C., III N Car, E 12 2 More Boyle, Terrence William N Car, E 10 3 More Jones, James Parker Virg, W 10 3 More Beaty, James A., Jr. N Car, M 9 5 More Gwin, James S. Ohio, N 9 5 More Melgren, Eric F. Kansas 8 7 More Sachs, Howard Frederic Mo, W 8 7 More Russell, Thomas B. Ken, W 7 9 More Crone, Marcia A. Texas, E 7 9 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 7 9 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 7 9 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 Louise W. Flanagan in the Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh) ranked 1st with 17 convicted in convictions.
Judge James C. Dever, III in the Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh) ranked 2nd with 12 convicted in convictions.
Judges Terrence William Boyle in the Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh) and James Parker Jones in the Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) ranked 3rd with 10 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: October 1, 2012
