Prosecutions for February 2011
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2011 the government reported 13092 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 18.1% 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 2011 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was only slightlydown (-0.9 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 34.5 percent from levels reported in 2006.
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 4 percent instead of 34.5 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 February 2011 was for "Immigration", accounting for 48.7 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (12.2%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (7.8%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (5%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (4.1%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.5%), "Assimilated Crimes" (2.7%), "Fraud-Health Care" (2.4%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in February 2011 was DHS accounting for 55 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: DEA (12% ), FBI (11%), ATF (6%), Defense (3%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2011, 7752 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 February 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 38.8 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (27.8%), "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (5.8%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2011, 5340 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February there were an additional 2212 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 February.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during February 2011.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,673 1 1 2 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 920 2 2 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 736 3 3 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 530 4 4 4 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 237 5 18 64 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 190 6 5 5 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 147 7 8 6 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 117 8 7 15 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 116 9 10 9 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 103 10 14 17 More 18 USC 1962 - RICO - prohibited activities 103 10 23 42 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 102.8 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—1126.8 %—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 6.7 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— 31.2 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Bringing in and harboring certain aliens " (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2011 the Justice Department said the government brought 2951.9 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 16,394 440 1 4 4 More Texas, W 14,660 749 2 1 2 More N Mexico 13,077 219 3 5 5 More Texas, S 10,030 703 4 2 1 More Arizona 9,461 520 5 3 3 More Ala, S 8,579 59 6 77 67 More D. C. 6,003 30 7 41 64 More Tenn, W 5,946 77 8 24 41 More N Dakota 5,751 31 9 68 71 More Ala, M 4,768 44 10 86 73 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of California (San Diego)—with 16394 prosecutions as compared with 2951.9 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during February 2011. 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 Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 for most frequent use five years ago.
District of New Mexico is now ranking 3rd. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Western District of Tennessee (Memphis), now ranked 8th , and Washington, D.C. (Washington) at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 24th and 41st one year ago and 41st and 64th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 81.7 percent—was Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 94.1 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— 28.5 percent—was Western District of Tennessee (Memphis). But over the past five years, Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery) showed the largest drop— 4.5 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 February 2011 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Perez-Gimenez, Juan Manuel Puer Rico 249 1 72 45 More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 152 2 4 13 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 113 3 1 3 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 88 4 5 4 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 86 5 6 7 More Bury, David C. Arizona 76 6 18 26 More Martinez, Philip Ray Texas, W 75 7 9 6 More Kazen, George P. Texas, S 71 8 3 1 More Briones, David Texas, W 71 8 8 9 More Jorgenson, Cindy K. Arizona 67 10 14 17 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 67 10 2 2 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 10 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. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Juan Manuel Perez-Gimenez in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 1st with 249 defendants in cases.
Judge Robert A. Junell in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 152 defendants in cases. Judge Junellalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 4).
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 3rd with 113 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 3).
Report Generated: May 17, 2011
