Convictions for March 2012
Referring Agency: Federal Bureau of Investigation
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2012 the government reported 1187 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 30% 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 (3.2 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 1.5 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 March 2012 was for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen", accounting for 11.5 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (11.1%), " Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (9.4%), "Project Safe Childhood" (8.6%), "Bank Robbery" (7.4%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (5.6%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (5.1%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (4.9%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (4.8%), " Fraud-Health Care" (4.2%), "Violence-Indian Country" (3.5%), "Violence-Other" (3%), "Fraud-Other" (2.8%), "Organized Crime-Emerging Organization" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2012, 8 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 March the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 113 involving the "Assaults within maritime and territorial jurisdictions". This was the lead charge for 62.5 percent of all magistrate convictions in March.
Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In March 2012, 1179 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March 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 March.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during March 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 142 1 1 3 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 100 2 3 2 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 91 3 2 1 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 64 4 6 7 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 63 5 5 5 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 59 6 4 6 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 49 7 8 4 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 45 8 11 33 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 38 9 12 9 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 36 10 7 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 67.2 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—787 %—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 15.9 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— 30.8 percent—was for convictions where the lead charge was " Bank Fraud " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In March 2012 the Justice Department said the government obtained 460.8 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. 6,003 30 1 25 19 More Ala, S 3,344 23 2 61 39 More Montana 2,338 19 3 29 51 More Alaska 1,927 11 4 87 82 More Cal, S 1,192 32 5 23 34 More S Dakota 1,182 8 6 34 13 More Wyoming 1,102 5 7 83 79 More Tenn, E 1,098 23 8 14 35 More Tenn, W 1,004 13 9 54 30 More Ind, N 941 20 10 42 61 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The District of Washington, D.C. (Washington)—with 6003 convictions as compared with 460.8 convictions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during March 2012.
The Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) ranked 2nd.
District of Montana is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville), now ranked 8th , and Southern District of California (San Diego) at 5th In the same order, these districts ranked 14th and 23rd one year ago and 35th and 34th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago— 255.6 percent—was Alaska . This was the same district that had the largest increase— 113.3 percent—when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions— 17.5 percent—was South Dakota . This was the same district that had the largest increase— 52.3 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 resulting in convictions of this type during March 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Lenard, Joan A. Fla, S 21 1 26 735 More Haddon, Sam E. Montana 12 2 9 63 More Steele, William H. Ala, S 11 3 166 33 More DuBose, Kristi K. Ala, S 10 4 138 51 More Lozano, Rodolfo Ind, N 10 4 113 63 More Flanagan, Louise W. N Car, E 10 4 518 735 More Perez-Gimenez, Juan Manuel Puer Rico 10 4 7 146 More Hamilton, Phyllis Jean Cal, N 9 8 138 313 More Garcia-Gregory, Jay A. Puer Rico 9 8 2 313 More Townes, Sandra L. N. Y., E 8 10 518 735 More Heaton, Joe L. Okla, W 8 10 624 628 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 4 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 7 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Joan A. Lenard in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) ranked 1st with 21 convicted in convictions.
Judge Sam E. Haddon in the District of Montana ranked 2nd with 12 convicted in convictions. Judge Haddonalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 9).
Judge William H. Steele in the Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) ranked 3rd with 11 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: June 11, 2012
