Convictions for April 2012
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2012 the government reported 12817 new convictions. 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 (8.7 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 58.4 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 convictions is 18.3 percent instead of 58.4 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 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 April 2012 was for "Immigration", accounting for 62.4 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (10.2%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" ( 4.2%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (3.9%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (3.4%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (2.1%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for convictions in April 2012 was DHS accounting for 69 percent of convictions. Other agencies with substantial numbers of convictions were: FBI (7% ), DEA (7%), ATF (4%), Interior (2%). See Figure 3.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In April 2012, 6633 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 66.8 percent of all magistrate convictions in April.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (22.8%).
Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In April 2012, 6184 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during April 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 April.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions 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 1,555 1 1 2 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 829 2 2 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 731 3 3 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 440 4 4 4 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 207 5 5 5 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 180 6 9 6 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 97 7 6 13 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 88 8 7 7 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 80 9 15 17 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 78 10 10 9 More Table 2: Top charges for convictions
"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 convictions—up 60.8 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—102.7 percent—was registered for convictions 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 convictions compared to one year ago—down 19.1 percent—was Bank robbery and incidental crimes (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease— 27.5 %—when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In April 2012 the Justice Department said the government obtained 2417.1 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 Cal, S 18,704 502 1 4 4 More N Mexico 12,838 215 2 5 5 More Texas, W 11,078 566 3 2 1 More Arizona 10,789 593 4 3 3 More S Dakota 8,715 59 5 51 48 More Texas, S 6,720 471 6 1 2 More Ala, S 6,107 42 7 49 61 More Wyoming 5,512 25 8 50 65 More D. C. 5,403 27 9 68 43 More Ill, S 5,087 54 10 72 67 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of California (San Diego)—with 18704 convictions as compared with 2417.1 convictions 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 5 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 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Southern District of Alabama (Mobile), now ranked 7th , and Wyoming at 8th In the same order, these districts ranked 49th and 50th one year ago and 61st and 65th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago— 67.5 percent—was Southern District of Illinois (East St. Louis). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 196 percent—was Arizona .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions— 29.2 percent—was Wyoming . But over the past five years, Washington, D.C. (Washington) showed the largest drop— 24.4 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 April 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia Texas, W 123 1 3 - More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 114 2 8 4 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 96 3 5 9 More Briones, David Texas, W 75 4 10 5 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 70 5 4 12 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 68 6 2 1 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 66 7 14 8 More Bury, David C. Arizona 63 8 9 44 More Jorgenson, Cindy K. Arizona 59 9 13 94 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 51 10 11 7 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
All 10 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of convictions per capita.
Judge Alia Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 123 convicted in convictions. Judge Mosesalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 3).
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 2nd with 114 convicted in convictions. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 8) and five years ago (rank 4).
Judge Ricardo H. Hinojosa in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 96 convicted in convictions. Judge Hinojosa appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 5) and five years ago (rank 9).
Report Generated: July 9, 2012
