Prosecutions for March 2012
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2012 the government reported 823 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 3.8% 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 2012 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (4.8 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 3.3 percent from levels reported in 2007.
The leveling out 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 March 2012 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 62.8 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" ( 14.2%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (12.5%), "Violence-Other" (4.4%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2012, 124 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 March 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 40.3 percent of all magistrate filings in March.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (9.7%), "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (8.9%), "18 USC 2342 - Trafficking in contraband cigarettes Unlawful acts " (8.1%), "18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties" (6.5%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In March 2012, 699 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March there were an additional 88 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 March.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during March 2012referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 456 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 63 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 53 3 3 3 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 46 4 4 4 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 20 5 5 7 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 10 6 6 5 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 4 7 7 6 More 18 USC 844 - Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives 2 8 8 8 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 2 8 29 12 More 18 USC 2342 - Trafficking in contraband cigarettes Unlawful acts 2 8 9 14 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 "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 prosecutions—up 350 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 2119 that involves " Carjacking ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—346.7 percent—was registered for prosecutions under " Hobbs Act " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1951 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 34.1 percent—was Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A (Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 33.3 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 March 2012 the Justice Department said the government brought 307.6 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 Ala, S 2,181 15 1 28 65 More Wyoming 1,984 9 2 69 40 More Virg, W 1,809 32 3 32 26 More Tenn, E 1,767 37 4 9 11 More Tenn, W 1,236 16 5 32 19 More Ga, S 1,067 13 6 6 43 More Kansas 1,064 25 7 8 15 More N Dakota 928 5 8 86 74 More Ala, N 908 21 9 18 23 More N Car, E 722 22 10 3 16 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Alabama (Mobile)—with 2181 prosecutions as compared with 307.6 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during March 2012.
The District of Wyoming ranked 2nd.
Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham), now ranked 9th , and Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) at 1st In the same order, these districts ranked 18th and 28th one year ago and 23rd and 65th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 144.4 percent—was North Dakota . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 213.6 percent—was Southern District of Alabama (Mobile).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 42.9 percent—was Southern District of Georgia (Savannah). But over the past five years, Wyoming showed the largest drop— 62.8 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 March 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Lasnik, Robert S. Wash, W 31 1 552 282 More Mattice, Harry Sandlin, Jr. Tenn, E 14 2 4 9 More Urbanski, Michael Francis Virg, W 13 3 - - More Blackburn, Sharon Lovelace Ala, N 11 4 130 172 More Garcia-Gregory, Jay A. Puer Rico 9 5 353 282 More Jones, James Parker Virg, W 9 5 24 72 More Smith, G. R. Ga, S 8 7 6 90 More Goldsmith, Mark Allan Mich, E 8 7 17 - More Besosa, Francisco Augusto Puer Rico 8 7 1 557 More Letts, J[ohn] Spencer Cal, C 7 10 - 557 More Wilken, Claudia Ann Cal, N 7 10 552 557 More Conrad, Robert James, Jr. N Car, W 7 10 72 31 More Collier, Curtis Lynn Tenn, E 7 10 130 61 More Mays, Samuel H., Jr. Tenn, W 7 10 130 90 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 7 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 14 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Robert S. Lasnik in the Western District of Washington (Seattle) ranked 1st with 31 defendants in cases.
Judge Harry Sandlin Mattice, Jr. in the Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) ranked 2nd with 14 defendants in cases. Judge Mattice appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 4) and five years ago (rank 9).
Judge Michael Francis Urbanski in the Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) ranked 3rd with 13 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: June 11, 2012
