Convictions for August 2012
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during August 2012 the government reported 1233 new convictions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 18.2% 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 down (-9.9 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 12 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 August 2012 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 56.9 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (26.1%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (14.4%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In August 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 August 2012, 1231 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during August 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 August.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during August 2012referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 545 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 456 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 9 3 3 3 More 18 USC 1962 - RICO - prohibited activities 8 4 7 15 More 21 USC 843 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C 5 5 6 8 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 4 6 4 4 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 4 6 9 10 More 18 USC 4 - Misprision of Felony 2 8 11 12 More 18 USC 894 - Collection of extensions of credit by extortionate 2 8 - 43 More 21 USC 844 - Penalty for simple possession 2 8 8 14 More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 2 8 5 5 More Table 2: Top charges for convictions
"Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (Title 21 U.S.C Section 841) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (Title 21 U.S.C Section 841) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846. "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Firearms; Unlawful acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 922. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 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 150 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 that involves " Importation of controlled substances ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—322.2 percent—was registered for convictions under " RICO - prohibited activities " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1962 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 56.5 percent—was Penalty for simple possession (Title 21 U.S.C Section 844 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions— 69.2 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Misprision of Felony " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 4 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In August 2012 the Justice Department said the government obtained 481.2 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 Texas, W 2,075 106 1 2 4 More Iowa, N 2,024 22 2 18 28 More Vermont 1,737 9 3 47 80 More N Mexico 1,732 29 4 6 6 More Alaska 1,577 9 5 84 79 More Ill, S 1,319 14 6 66 52 More Iowa, S 1,268 18 7 39 36 More Ken, E 1,218 22 8 68 38 More Virg, W 1,187 21 9 28 14 More Texas, S 1,141 80 10 3 1 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio)—with 2075 convictions as compared with 481.2 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during August 2012. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Northern District of Iowa (Cedar Rapids) ranked 2nd.
District of Vermont is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of Iowa (Cedar Rapids), now ranked 2nd , and Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 18th and 28th one year ago and 28th and 14th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago— 155.2 percent—was Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 150 percent—was Vermont .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions— 27.5 percent—was Southern District of Texas (Houston). But over the past five years, New Mexico showed the largest drop— 33.1 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 August 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Fuste, Jose Antonio Puer Rico 71 1 17 26 More Edmunds, Nancy Garlock Mich, E 49 2 69 470 More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 36 3 2 1 More Steele, John E. Fla, M 24 4 123 24 More Biery, Samuel Frederick, Jr. Texas, W 20 5 13 100 More Moses, Alia Texas, W 14 6 5 - More Jones, James Parker Virg, W 14 6 142 198 More Scola, Robert Nichols, Jr. Fla, S 13 8 - - More Reade, Linda R. Iowa, N 13 8 12 15 More Reeves, Danny C. Ken, E 12 10 646 37 More Ramos, Nelva Gonzales Texas, S 12 10 - - 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 convictions per capita, while the remaining 4 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Jose Antonio Fuste in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 1st with 71 convicted in convictions.
Judge Nancy Garlock Edmunds in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) ranked 2nd with 49 convicted in convictions.
Judge Robert A. Junell in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 3rd with 36 convicted in convictions. Judge Junell appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 2) and five years ago (rank 1).
Report Generated: November 19, 2012
