Convictions for February 2012
Referring Agency: Federal Bureau of Investigation
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2012 the government reported 938 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 down 8.3% 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 (7.8 percent). Convictions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are up 0.9 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 February 2012 was for "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force", accounting for 14.2 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" ( 12.8%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (10.9%), "Bank Robbery" (9.2%), "Project Safe Childhood" (7.5%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (4.8%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (4.7%), "Fraud-Health Care" (4.3%), "Violence-Indian Country" (4.3%), " Violence-Other" (3.2%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (2.8%), "Fraud-Other" (2.6%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2012, 6 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 February the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326 involving the "Reentry of deported alien". This was the lead charge for 16.7 percent of all magistrate convictions in February.
Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2012, 932 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February 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 February.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during February 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 116 1 1 3 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 96 2 3 2 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 88 3 2 1 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 45 4 7 4 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 42 5 9 12 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 41 6 4 6 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 31 7 12 28 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 30 8 5 5 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 30 8 6 7 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 27 10 8 8 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 3 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 2 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 111.5 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 that involves " Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—780 %—when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago—down 15.3 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— 34.2 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Bank Fraud " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2012 the Justice Department said the government obtained 364.3 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. 2,802 14 1 39 21 More N Mexico 2,209 37 2 20 52 More La, M 1,372 9 3 79 80 More Idaho 1,242 16 4 67 74 More Fla, S 1,223 68 5 1 7 More Ark, E 1,128 15 6 55 47 More S Dakota 1,034 7 7 34 16 More Montana 985 8 8 29 47 More Ohio, N 783 38 9 10 2 More Ala, M 759 7 10 66 83 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The District of Washington, D.C. (Washington)—with 2802 convictions as compared with 364.3 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during February 2012.
The District of New Mexico ranked 2nd.
Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were New Mexico , now ranked 2nd , and Montana at 8th In the same order, these districts ranked 20th and 29th one year ago and 52nd and 47th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago— 75 percent—was Idaho . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 114.3 percent—was New Mexico .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions— 60 percent—was Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery). But over the past five years, South Dakota showed the largest drop— 52.8 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 February 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Perez-Gimenez, Juan Manuel Puer Rico 21 1 719 305 More Marra, Kenneth A. Fla, S 17 2 36 452 More Altonaga, Cecilia M. Fla, S 15 3 248 305 More Lodge, Edward J. Idaho 13 4 50 50 More Browning, James O. N Mexico 11 5 50 636 More Lenard, Joan A. Fla, S 10 6 17 743 More Gaughan, Patricia Anne Ohio, N 9 7 357 54 More Ludington, Thomas Lamson Mich, E 8 8 109 743 More Moses, Alia Texas, W 8 8 623 - More Kallon, Abdul Karim Ala, N 7 10 623 - More Burns, Ellen Bree Conn 7 10 357 213 More Lange, Roberto Antonio S Dakota 7 10 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 5 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Juan Manuel Perez-Gimenez in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 1st with 21 convicted in convictions.
Judge Kenneth A. Marra in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 2nd with 17 convicted in convictions.
Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 3rd with 15 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: May 8, 2012
