Prosecutions for October 2017
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2017 the government reported 684 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 10.1 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 2017 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (18.2%). 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 3.3 percent from levels reported in 2012.
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 October 2017 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 55.8 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (23.5%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (9.5%), "Violence-Other" (5.8%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.2%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In October 2017, 110 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 October the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 53.6 percent of all magistrate filings in October.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (13.6%), "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (6.4%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In October 2017, 574 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during October there were an additional 85 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 October.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during October 2017 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 342 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 57 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 29 3 3 3 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 24 4 5 5 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 17 5 4 4 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 12 6 6 7 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 4 7 10 9 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 3 9 9 14 More 18 USC 1959 - Violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity 2 10 24 - 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 900 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 — 3900 % — 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 13.3 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 prosecutions — 68.8 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In October 2017 the Justice Department said the government brought 244.7 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 Ark, E 3,512 48 1 62 57 More Tenn, W 1,606 21 2 19 25 More Alaska 1,334 8 3 52 76 More W Virg, S 1,064 8 4 77 81 More S Car 919 38 5 8 25 More N Car, E 842 28 6 5 2 More Ind, N 835 18 7 16 19 More Miss, S 769 12 8 57 47 More Wash, E 682 9 9 39 64 More Maryland 578 29 10 4 19 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) — with 3512 prosecutions as compared with 244.7 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during October 2017.
The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd.
District of Alaska is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of Indiana (South Bend), now ranked 7th , and Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) at 2nd In the same order, these districts ranked 16th and 19th one year ago and 19th and 25th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 325 percent — was Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 240 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 10.8 percent — was Eastern District of Washington (Spokane). But over the past five years, Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh) showed the largest drop — 25.6 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 October 2017 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Miller, Brian Stacy Ark, E 45 1 192 191 More Lipman, Sheryl Halle Tenn, W 14 2 42 - More Sanchez, Juan Ramon Penn, E 13 3 - 88 More Motz, J. Frederick Maryland 12 4 5 430 More Cain, Timothy Martin S Car 9 5 6 - More Dever, James C., III N Car, E 8 6 51 8 More Cerezo, Carmen Consuelo Puer Rico 7 7 96 99 More Martinez, William Joseph Colorado 6 8 32 345 More DeGuilio, Jon Ernest Ind, N 5 9 9 60 More Fitzwater, Sidney Allen Texas, N 5 9 62 288 More Kinkeade, James E. Texas, N 5 9 32 191 More O'Connor, Reed Charles Texas, N 5 9 32 7 More Rodriguez, Xavier Texas, W 5 9 157 54 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 7 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 13 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Brian Stacy Miller in the Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) ranked 1st with 45 defendants in cases.
Judge Sheryl Halle Lipman in the Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd with 14 defendants in cases.
Judge Juan Ramon Sanchez in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) ranked 3rd with 13 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: November 28, 2017
