Prosecutions for July 2018
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2018 the government reported 809 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 10 percent 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 2018 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (15.7%). 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 18.1 percent from levels reported in 2013.
The 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 12.3 percent instead of 18.1 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. 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 2018 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 59.8 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (21.6%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (9.8%), "Violence-Other" (4.7%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In July 2018, 129 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 "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 52.7 percent of all magistrate filings in July.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (10.9%), "18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act" (7.8%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In July 2018, 680 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July there were an additional 117 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 2018 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 451 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 61 2 2 2 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 31 3 4 4 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 21 4 3 3 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 12 6 5 5 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 4 7 11 15 More 22 USC 2778 - Control of arms exports and imports 4 7 - 15 More 18 USC 4 - Misprision of Felony 2 9 36 15 More 26 USC 5841 - Registration of firearms 2 9 18 20 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 2 9 6 6 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 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 "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 ranked 4 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 296.3 percent — compared to one year ago was Title U.S.C Section that involves "Other US Code Section ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 5250 % — when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 36.7 percent — was " Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts " (Title 26 U.S.C Section 5861 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 60 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Misprision of Felony " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 4 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In July 2018 the Justice Department said the government brought 296 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 2,982 39 1 4 14 More Ala, S 2,700 19 2 62 34 More Tenn, E 2,351 51 3 8 9 More Ark, E 1,756 24 4 37 44 More Ken, W 1,397 26 5 38 20 More Ala, N 1,381 33 6 10 32 More Ala, M 1,147 11 7 42 91 More La, M 1,006 7 8 49 74 More Montana 921 8 9 25 66 More Alaska 833 5 10 73 63 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) — with 2982 prosecutions as compared with 296 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during July 2018. The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) was ranked 4 a year ago.
The Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) ranked 2nd.
Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) is now ranking 3rd. The Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) was ranked 8 a year ago, while it was ranked 9 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Montana , now ranked 9th , and Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) at 4th In the same order, these districts ranked 25th and 37th one year ago and 66th and 44th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 150 percent — was Southern District of Alabama (Mobile). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 3100 percent — was Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 18.8 percent — was Montana . But over the past five years, Western District of Kentucky (Louisville) showed the largest drop — 13.2 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 2018 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Jordan, Robert Leon Tenn, E 22 1 231 269 More McDonough, Travis Randall Tenn, E 14 2 44 - More Lipman, Sheryl Halle Tenn, W 12 3 4 - More Kallon, Abdul Karim Ala, N 11 4 50 412 More Gilstrap, James Rodney Texas, E 11 4 - - More Delgado-Colon, Aida M. Puer Rico 10 6 198 185 More Fowlkes, John Thomas, Jr. Tenn, W 10 6 4 87 More Limbaugh, Stephen Nathaniel, Jr. Mo, E 9 8 16 37 More Baker, Kristine Gerhard Ark, E 8 9 137 150 More McShane, Michael Jerome Oregon 8 9 231 - More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 6 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.
Judge Robert Leon Jordan in the Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) ranked 1st with 22 defendants in cases.
Judge Travis Randall McDonough in the Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) ranked 2nd with 14 defendants in cases.
Judge Sheryl Halle Lipman in the Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 3rd with 12 defendants in cases. Judge Lipman also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 4).
Report Generated: August 23, 2018
