Prosecutions for September 2012
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2012 the government reported 1189 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 9% 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 down (-13.5 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 14 percent from levels reported in 2007.
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 September 2012 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 44.5 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (27.8%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (24.2%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In September 2012, 235 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 September the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 involving the "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A". This was the lead charge for 59.6 percent of all magistrate filings in September.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (33.6%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In September 2012, 954 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September there were an additional 166 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 prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during September 2012referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 397 1 2 2 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 357 2 1 1 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 12 3 4 7 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 9 4 5 3 More 46 USC 70506 - Penalties 9 4 24 17 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 6 6 7 8 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 6 6 15 19 More 21 USC 848 - Continuing criminal enterprise 5 8 18 - More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 5 8 3 4 More 21 USC 843 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C 3 10 6 6 More 46 USC 70503 - Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US 3 10 11 10 More Table 2: Top charges filed
"Attempt and conspiracy" (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Attempt and conspiracy" (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846) was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 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 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Laundering of monetary instruments" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956. "Laundering of monetary instruments" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 7 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 533.3 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 46 U.S.C Section 70506 that involves " Penalties ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—287.5 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 78.3 percent—was Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C (Title 21 U.S.C Section 843 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease— 76.7 %—when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In September 2012 the Justice Department said the government brought 437.8 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 2,933 39 1 42 64 More N Mexico 2,747 46 2 8 4 More Texas, E 2,276 67 3 9 7 More La, M 2,135 14 4 73 91 More Kansas 2,086 49 5 17 15 More Tenn, E 1,767 37 6 13 12 More Cal, S 1,304 35 7 6 14 More Ken, E 1,273 23 8 22 17 More Vermont 1,158 6 9 55 80 More Wyoming 1,102 5 10 78 38 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock)—with 2933 prosecutions as compared with 437.8 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during September 2012.
The District of New Mexico ranked 2nd. The District of New Mexico was ranked 8 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) is now ranking 3rd. The Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) was ranked 9 a year ago, while it was ranked 7 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville), now ranked 6th , and Kansas at 5th In the same order, these districts ranked 13th and 17th one year ago and 12th and 15th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 88.4 percent—was Kansas . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 533.3 percent—was Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 68.4 percent—was Wyoming . This was the same district that had the largest increase— 90.9 percent—when compared with five years ago.
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 September 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Schell, Richard A. Texas, E 48 1 19 48 More Vratil, Kathryn Hoefer Kansas 46 2 456 60 More Marshall, Denzil Price, Jr. Ark, E 32 3 192 - More Greer, J. Ronnie Tenn, E 25 4 34 427 More Gelpi, Gustavo Antonio, Jr. Puer Rico 22 5 42 338 More Thapar, Amul Roger Ken, E 15 6 175 - More Bataillon, Joseph F. Nebraska 15 6 - 214 More O'Neill, Lawrence Joseph Cal, E 13 8 192 126 More Hopkins, Virginia Emerson Ala, N 12 9 611 271 More Gonzalez, Irma Elsa Cal, S 12 9 175 489 More Brady, James J. La, M 12 9 192 - More Crone, Marcia A. Texas, E 12 9 4 13 More Means, Terry R. Texas, N 12 9 5 163 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 12 9 23 82 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 8 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 6 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 14 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Richard A. Schell in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) ranked 1st with 48 defendants in cases.
Judge Kathryn Hoefer Vratil in the District of Kansas ranked 2nd with 46 defendants in cases.
Judge Denzil Price Marshall, Jr. in the Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) ranked 3rd with 32 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: December 11, 2012
