Prosecutions for December 2017
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2017 the government reported 920 new prosecutions 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 down 4.1 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 (6.7%). 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 14.5 percent from levels reported in 2012.
The decrease 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 December 2017 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 53.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (26.5%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (14.2%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (2.7%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In December 2017, 199 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 December the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 involving "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A". This was the lead charge for 66.3 percent of all magistrate filings in December.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (11.1%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In December 2017, 721 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during December there were an additional 144 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 December.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during December 2017 referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 373 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 179 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 24 3 3 3 More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 12 4 10 4 More 21 USC 843 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C 6 5 7 11 More 46 USC 70503 - Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US 6 5 4 8 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 4 7 6 6 More 18 USC 1111 - Murder 3 8 - - More 18 USC 2285 - Operate submersible vessel/semi-submersible vessel without nationality 3 8 - - More 46 USC 70506 - Penalties 3 8 5 9 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"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 prosecutions — up 77.5 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956 that involves " Laundering of monetary instruments ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 184 % — 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 52.9 percent — was " Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US " (Title 46 U.S.C Section 70503 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 32.9 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In December 2017 the Justice Department said the government brought 321.2 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 Texas, E 2,451 80 1 12 6 More Texas, W 1,319 78 2 1 2 More N Mexico 980 17 3 3 4 More Fla, N 976 15 4 34 45 More N Dakota 950 6 5 46 46 More Wisc, E 917 26 6 85 52 More Kansas 867 21 7 24 9 More Mo, E 860 21 8 10 46 More Ill, S 855 9 9 67 37 More Ala, M 834 8 10 46 78 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) — with 2451 prosecutions as compared with 321.2 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during December 2017.
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 for most frequent use five years ago.
District of New Mexico is now ranking 3rd. The District of New Mexico was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Texas (Tyler), now ranked 1st , and Kansas at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 12th and 24th one year ago and 6th and 9th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 385.7 percent — was Eastern District of Wisconsin (Milwaukee). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 129.4 percent — was Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 20.9 percent — was New Mexico . But over the past five years, Southern District of Illinois (East St. Louis) showed the largest drop — 34.5 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 December 2017 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 52 1 1 1 More Mazzant, Amos L. Texas, E 51 2 66 - More Adelman, Lynn S. Wisc, E 18 3 345 267 More Trauger, Aleta Arthur Tenn, M 13 4 106 267 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 13 4 39 56 More O'Neill, Lawrence Joseph Cal, E 10 6 96 6 More Covello, Alfred V. Conn 10 6 345 - More Scola, Robert Nichols, Jr. Fla, S 10 6 13 80 More Robinson, Julie A. Kansas 10 6 257 267 More Neff, Janet T. Mich, W 10 6 418 199 More Heartfield, Thad Texas, E 10 6 418 - More Crone, Marcia A. Texas, E 10 6 11 2 More Table 4. Top Ten 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 5 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Robert A. Junell in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 52 defendants in cases. Judge Junell appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 1).
Judge Amos L. Mazzant in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) ranked 2nd with 51 defendants in cases.
Judge Lynn S. Adelman in the Eastern District of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) ranked 3rd with 18 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: January 24, 2018
