Convictions for August 2012
Referring Agency: Federal Bureau of Investigation
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during August 2012 the government reported 1117 new convictions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 21.5% 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 up (2.3 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 0.2 percent from levels reported in 2007.
The leveling out 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-Organized Crime Task Force", accounting for 12 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (11.7%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (11.5%), "Fraud-Health Care" (11.3%), "Bank Robbery" (9.1%), "Project Safe Childhood" (8.5%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (4.2%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (3.8%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (3.1%), " Violence-Other" (3.1%), "Violence-Indian Country" (3%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (2.5%). 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, 1114 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 131 1 1 3 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 121 2 2 2 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 107 3 3 1 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 89 4 5 5 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 54 5 11 33 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 49 6 4 8 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 39 7 7 7 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 33 8 8 6 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 31 9 9 10 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 26 10 6 4 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 3 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 "Bank robbery and incidental crimes" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113. "Bank robbery and incidental crimes" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions—up 28.6 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 that involves " Fraud by wire, radio, or television ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—628 percent—was registered for convictions under " Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 16.2 percent—was Bank robbery and incidental crimes (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions— 31.1 percent—was for convictions 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 August 2012 the Justice Department said the government obtained 435.4 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 D. C. 4,202 21 1 26 26 More S Dakota 1,773 12 2 35 18 More Montana 1,723 14 3 29 26 More Ark, W 1,670 18 4 72 68 More Tenn, W 1,158 15 5 44 30 More N Dakota 1,113 6 6 66 70 More Okla, E 984 6 7 89 87 More Ark, E 978 13 8 63 35 More Wash, E 978 12 8 65 80 More Ken, E 941 17 10 50 34 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The District of Washington, D.C. (Washington)—with 4202 convictions as compared with 435.4 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during August 2012.
The District of South Dakota ranked 2nd.
District of Montana is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Washington, D.C. (Washington), now ranked 1st , and Montana at 3rd In the same order, these districts ranked 26th and 29th one year ago and 26th and 26th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago— 130.4 percent—was Western District of Arkansas (Fort Smith). This was the same district that had the largest increase— 103.8 percent—when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions— 11.5 percent—was North Dakota . But over the past five years, Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) showed the largest drop— 22.7 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 Perez-Gimenez, Juan Manuel Puer Rico 109 1 5 67 More Legg, Benson Everett Maryland 13 2 452 282 More Barnes, Harry F. Ark, W 12 3 41 411 More Means, Terry R. Texas, N 11 4 176 164 More Arguello, Christine M. Colorado 9 5 141 - More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 9 5 17 4 More Doherty, Rebecca F. La, W 8 7 - 565 More Zouhary, Jack Ohio, N 8 7 141 - More Lee, Gerald Bruce Virg, E 8 7 55 5 More Cebull, Richard F. Montana 7 10 46 6 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 2 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.
Judge Juan Manuel Perez-Gimenez in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 1st with 109 convicted in convictions. Judge Perez-Gimenezalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 5).
Judge Benson Everett Legg in the District of Maryland ranked 2nd with 13 convicted in convictions.
Judge Harry F. Barnes in the Western District of Arkansas (Fort Smith) ranked 3rd with 12 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: November 19, 2012
