Prosecutions for September 2012
Referring Agency: Federal Bureau of Investigation
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2012 the government reported 1101 new prosecutions 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 2.7% 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 (-6.1 percent). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 2.3 percent from levels reported in 2007.
The leveling out in these cases is partly related to increases in the matters filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. If magistrate cases are excluded and only Federal District Court cases are counted, the overall increase in prosecutions is 1.6 percent instead of 2.3 percent. The evidence suggests that part of the difference may be the result of improvements in the recording of the magistrate cases by the Justice Department.
The leveling out 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 "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen", accounting for 21 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" ( 12.6%), "Bank Robbery" (8.8%), "Project Safe Childhood" (7.7%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (5.5%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (5.5%), "Violence-Other" (4.6%), "Fraud-Mortgage" (3.6%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (3.2%), "Fraud-Other" (2.9%), " Other Criminal Prosecutions" (2.5%), "Fraud-Health Care" (2.5%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In September 2012, 240 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 22.5 percent of all magistrate filings in September.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes" (8.8%), "18 USC 1073 - Flight to Avoid Prosecution or Giving Testimony" (6.3%), " 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors" (5.4%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In September 2012, 861 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September there were an additional 149 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 92 1 3 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 89 2 1 3 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 77 3 2 2 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 64 4 7 8 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 49 5 10 9 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 45 6 4 6 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 40 7 6 4 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 28 8 8 7 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 27 9 12 11 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 22 10 9 5 More Table 2: Top charges filed
"Bank robbery and incidental crimes" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Bank robbery and incidental crimes" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 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 3 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "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.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 38.5 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1951 that involves " Hobbs Act ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—90.3 percent—was registered for prosecutions under " Firearms; Unlawful acts " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 36.2 percent—was Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 30.9 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Bank robbery and incidental crimes " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In September 2012 the Justice Department said the government brought 394.8 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 Montana 2,338 19 1 29 18 More R. I. 1,367 12 2 84 88 More Idaho 1,320 17 3 76 71 More Okla, N 1,310 11 4 54 78 More S Dakota 1,182 8 5 35 21 More Wyoming 1,102 5 6 79 82 More N. Y., S 1,028 44 7 4 3 More D. C. 1,001 5 8 15 73 More N Dakota 928 5 9 73 69 More Hawaii 927 10 10 51 60 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The District of Montana—with 2338 prosecutions as compared with 394.8 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during September 2012.
The District of Rhode Island ranked 2nd.
District of Idaho is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Washington, D.C. (Washington), now ranked 8th , and Montana at 1st In the same order, these districts ranked 15th and 29th one year ago and 73rd and 18th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 85 percent—was Idaho . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 260.9 percent—was Washington, D.C. (Washington).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 35.3 percent—was Hawaii . But over the past five years, Montana showed the largest drop— 14.6 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 September 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Coughenour, John C. Wash, W 25 1 532 228 More Cerezo, Carmen Consuelo Puer Rico 14 2 394 129 More Williams, Alexander, Jr. Maryland 13 3 394 580 More DeGiusti, Timothy D. Okla, W 11 4 468 398 More Smith, William E. R. I. 11 4 291 398 More Thompson, Alvin W. Conn 10 6 532 490 More Reade, Linda R. Iowa, N 10 6 291 183 More Haddon, Sam E. Montana 10 6 10 26 More Barrett, Michael Ryan Ohio, S 10 6 336 398 More Miller, Gray Hampton Texas, S 10 6 468 580 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 filings per capita, while the remaining 8 judges were from other districts.
Judge John C. Coughenour in the Western District of Washington (Seattle) ranked 1st with 25 defendants in cases.
Judge Carmen Consuelo Cerezo in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 2nd with 14 defendants in cases.
Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. in the District of Maryland ranked 3rd with 13 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: December 11, 2012
