Prosecutions for April 2012
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2012 the government reported 14950 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 3.9% 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 only slightly down (-0.4 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 42 percent from levels reported in 2007.
The growth 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 0.9 percent instead of 42 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 increase 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 April 2012 was for "Immigration", accounting for 58.6 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (9.5%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (6.9%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (4.5%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.6%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.3%), "Assimilated Crimes" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in April 2012 was DHS accounting for 65 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: DEA (8% ), FBI (7%), ATF (5%), Defense (3%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In April 2012, 9707 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 April the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 involving the "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.". This was the lead charge for 48 percent of all magistrate filings in April.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (27.8%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In April 2012, 5243 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during April there were an additional 2292 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 April.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during April 2012.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,773 1 1 2 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 916 2 2 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 811 3 3 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 567 4 4 4 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 236 5 5 5 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 176 6 6 6 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 110 7 9 14 More 18 USC 1028 - Fraud and related activity - id documents 99 8 20 12 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 88 9 10 8 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 86 10 7 7 More Table 2: Top charges filed
"Reentry of deported alien" (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Reentry of deported alien" (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326) was ranked 1 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 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 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 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 20.1 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 that involves " Importation of controlled substances ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—84.4 percent—was registered for prosecutions under " Reentry of deported alien " (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 27.3 percent—was Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 34.2 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Fraud and related activity - id documents " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In April 2012 the Justice Department said the government brought 2945.2 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 Cal, S 17,847 479 1 4 4 More N Mexico 16,958 284 2 5 6 More Texas, W 15,149 774 3 3 1 More Arizona 11,516 633 4 1 3 More S Dakota 10,045 68 5 47 44 More Texas, S 8,275 580 6 2 2 More D. C. 6,003 30 7 53 82 More Tenn, W 5,715 74 8 51 27 More Vermont 5,404 28 9 88 81 More La, M 5,337 35 10 89 80 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of California (San Diego)—with 17847 prosecutions as compared with 2945.2 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during April 2012. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
The District of New Mexico ranked 2nd. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 6 for most frequent use five years ago.
Western District of Texas (San Antonio) is now ranking 3rd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were South Dakota , now ranked 5th , and Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) at 8th In the same order, these districts ranked 47th and 51st one year ago and 44th and 27th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 76.4 percent—was Vermont . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 100 percent—was Washington, D.C. (Washington).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 22.8 percent—was Southern District of Texas (Houston). But over the past five years, Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) showed the largest drop— 13.3 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 April 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia Texas, W 167 1 1 - More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 115 2 6 9 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 114 3 8 4 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 96 4 4 10 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 89 5 15 5 More Gelpi, Gustavo Antonio, Jr. Puer Rico 75 6 202 303 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 74 7 7 11 More Collins, Raner Christercunean Arizona 73 8 2 33 More Martinez, Philip Ray Texas, W 72 9 12 7 More Briones, David Texas, W 66 10 10 8 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 9 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 1 judges were from other districts.
Judge Alia Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 167 defendants in cases. Judge Mosesalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 1).
Judge Robert A. Junell in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 115 defendants in cases. Judge Junell appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 6) and five years ago (rank 9).
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 3rd with 114 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 8) and five years ago (rank 4).
Report Generated: July 9, 2012
