Prosecutions for December 2009
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2009 the government reported 12373 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 4.9% 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 2009 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was only slightlydown (-1.3 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 50.8 percent from levels reported in 2004.
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 3.9 percent instead of 50.8 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 December 2009 was for "Immigration", accounting for 51.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (11.9%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (6.7%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (4.6%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (4.4%), "Assimilated Crimes" (3.9%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.1%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in December 2009 was DHS accounting for 57 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (9% ), DEA (9%), ATF (5%), Defense (5%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In December 2009, 7652 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 December 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 42.6 percent of all magistrate filings in December.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (21.7%), "18 USC 13 - Laws of States Adopted in Federal jurisdiction" (6.4%), "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A" ( 6.2%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In December 2009, 4721 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during December there were an additional 2108 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 December.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during December 2009.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,755 1 1 2 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A 1,043 2 2 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 498 3 3 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 473 4 4 4 More 8 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 217 5 5 5 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 129 6 6 12 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 124 7 8 8 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 117 8 11 9 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 104 9 10 14 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 96 10 9 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 the 2 most frequently invoked 5 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 the 1 most frequently invoked 5 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 the 3 most frequently invoked 5 years ago..
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 22.1 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326 that involves " Reentry of deported alien ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—86.4 %—when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 26.6 percent—was Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1546 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 20.5 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Firearms; Unlawful acts " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In December 2009 the Justice Department said the government brought 2743 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 N Mexico 17,917 290 1 5 5 More Cal, S 16,690 432 2 3 4 More Texas, W 16,247 777 3 2 2 More D. C. 13,118 64 4 69 42 More Texas, S 10,023 664 5 1 1 More N Dakota 9,601 51 6 61 69 More Arizona 8,544 439 7 4 3 More Mo, E 5,117 123 8 18 14 More Tenn, W 4,849 62 9 33 32 More S Dakota 4,566 30 10 41 45 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The District of New Mexico—with 17917 prosecutions as compared with 2743 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during December 2009. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
The Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 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 2 five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis), now ranked 8th , and Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 18th and 33rd one year ago and 14th and 32nd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 72.9 percent—was Washington, D.C. (Washington). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 47.4 percent—was Southern District of California (San Diego).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 27.5 percent—was South Dakota . This was the same district that had the largest increase— 14.2 %—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 of this type during December 2009 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 109 1 3 3 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 109 1 4 7 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 99 3 1 42 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 97 4 5 10 More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 90 5 10 8 More Kazen, George P. Texas, S 86 6 2 1 More Briones, David Texas, W 85 7 6 5 More Martinez, Philip Ray Texas, W 81 8 7 9 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 75 9 9 4 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 70 10 8 6 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 filings per capita.
Judges Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico and Randy Crane in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 109 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 3) and five years ago (rank 3).Judge Crane appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 4) and five years ago (rank 7).
Judge Micaela Alvarez in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 99 defendants in cases. Judge Alvarezalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 1).
