Convictions for September 2012
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2012 the government reported 824 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 12.9% 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 down (-1.9 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 9.7 percent from levels reported in 2007.
The decrease 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 September 2012 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 69.4 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (11.5%), " Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (7.3%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (4.7%), "Violence-Other" (3.6%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In September 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 September 2012, 824 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September 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 September.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during September 2012referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 523 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 74 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 62 3 3 3 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 38 4 4 4 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 19 5 5 7 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 17 6 6 5 More 18 USC 1962 - RICO - prohibited activities 13 7 12 12 More 18 USC 2342 - Trafficking in contraband cigarettes Unlawful acts 6 8 13 11 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 4 9 8 6 More 18 USC 554 - Smuggling goods from the United States 3 10 - - More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 3 10 18 39 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 3 10 10 10 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 244.4 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1962 that involves " RICO - prohibited activities ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—700 percent—was registered for convictions under " Public money, property or records " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 61.5 percent—was Carjacking (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2119 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease— 54.5 %—when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In September 2012 the Justice Department said the government obtained 322.1 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 2,908 20 1 45 43 More Alaska 1,752 10 2 72 87 More Tenn, W 1,313 17 3 8 20 More Wyoming 1,102 5 4 68 39 More N Car, E 1,083 33 5 1 11 More Ala, N 1,081 25 6 25 9 More Mo, W 1,053 27 7 15 3 More Tenn, E 1,051 22 8 4 22 More Montana 985 8 9 81 48 More Ohio, N 824 40 10 21 20 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Alabama (Mobile)—with 2908 convictions as compared with 322.1 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during September 2012.
The District of Alaska ranked 2nd.
Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) is now ranking 3rd. The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) was ranked 8 a year ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Western District of Missouri (Kansas City), now ranked 7th , and Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 15th and 21st one year ago and 3rd and 20th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago— 169.2 percent—was Montana . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 211.1 percent—was Alaska .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions— 26.5 percent—was Western District of Tennessee (Memphis). But over the past five years, Wyoming showed the largest drop— 52.3 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 September 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Crane, Randy Texas, S 18 1 More Osteen, William Lindsay, Jr. N Car, M 12 2 More Besosa, Francisco Augusto Puer Rico 12 2 More Nugent, Donald C. Ohio, N 11 4 More Cerezo, Carmen Consuelo Puer Rico 11 4 More Fox, James Carroll N Car, E 8 6 More Howard, Malcolm Jones N Car, E 8 6 More DuBose, Kristi K. Ala, S 7 8 More Siragusa, Charles J. N. Y., W 7 8 More Trauger, Aleta Arthur Tenn, M 7 8 More O'Connor, Reed Charles Texas, N 7 8 More Moses, Alia Texas, W 7 8 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 4 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 8 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Randy Crane in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 18 convicted in convictions.
Judges William Lindsay Osteen, Jr. in the Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro) and Francisco Augusto Besosa in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 2nd with 12 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: December 11, 2012
