Prosecutions for February 2018
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2018 the government reported 10836 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 5.2 percent 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 2018 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (9.5%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are down 24.6 percent from levels reported in 2013.
The dip 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 decrease in prosecutions is 14.8 percent instead of 24.6 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 decrease 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 2018 was for "Immigration", accounting for 52.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (10.1%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (8.5%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (7.4%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.4%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.9%), "Project Safe Childhood" (2%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in February 2018 was DHS accounting for 59 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (9% ), DEA (8%), ATF (8%), Defense (2%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2018, 6421 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 "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.". This was the lead charge for 46.2 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (22.7%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2018, 4415 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February there were an additional 2042 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 2018.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,574 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 833 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 669 3 4 4 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 379 4 3 3 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 279 5 5 5 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 217 6 30 25 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 120 7 6 6 More 18 USC 1791 - Providing or possessing contraband in prison 103 8 42 48 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 95 9 7 7 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 75 10 13 17 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 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 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Firearms; Unlawful acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 922. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 431.6 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 that involves " Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 327.8 % — 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 20 percent — was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 33.9 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2018 the Justice Department said the government brought 2397.9 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 20,579 600 1 4 3 More N Mexico 17,299 300 2 5 5 More Ark, E 11,268 154 3 54 51 More Texas, W 10,504 621 4 1 2 More Tenn, W 8,946 117 5 51 39 More S Dakota 8,460 60 6 21 31 More Arizona 6,943 401 7 3 4 More Texas, S 6,655 533 8 2 1 More Mo, E 5,323 130 9 17 34 More Montana 5,295 46 10 62 60 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of California (San Diego) — with 20579 prosecutions as compared with 2397.9 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during February 2018. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 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.
Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis), now ranked 9th , and South Dakota at 6th In the same order, these districts ranked 17th and 21st one year ago and 34th and 31st five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 121.2 percent — was Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 80.8 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 21 percent — was South Dakota . This was the same district that had the largest increase — 28.2 percent — 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 February 2018 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 177 1 1 2 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 114 2 2 1 More Lewis, Peter C. Cal, S 97 3 595 771 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 89 4 4 4 More Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 86 5 3 - More Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 83 6 - 997 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 79 7 9 6 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 78 8 5 5 More Lipman, Sheryl Halle Tenn, W 63 9 183 - More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 56 10 12 9 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 10 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capit.
Judge Alia M. Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 177 defendants in cases. Judge Moses appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 2).
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 2nd with 114 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 2) and five years ago (rank 1).
Judge Peter C. Lewis in the Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 3rd with 97 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: March 26, 2018
