Prosecutions for January 2014
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2014 the government reported 10265 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 5.3% 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 2014 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-15.2 percent). 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 10.9 percent from levels reported in 2009.
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 January 2014 was for "Immigration", accounting for 52.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (11.7%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (7.5%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (4.8%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.7%), "Assimilated Crimes" (3.4%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.5%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in January 2014 was DHS accounting for 61 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (9% ), DEA (8%), ATF (4%), Defense (4%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In January 2014, 6452 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 January the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326 involving the "Reentry of deported alien". This was the lead charge for 35.9 percent of all magistrate filings in January.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." (31.6%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In January 2014, 3813 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during January there were an additional 1756 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 January.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during January 2014.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,427 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 698 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 410 3 3 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 383 4 4 4 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 195 5 5 5 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 91 6 7 10 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 76 7 11 9 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 74 8 16 22 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 74 8 6 7 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 62 10 8 15 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 "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 24.4 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—101.6 %—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 18.9 percent—was Importation of controlled substances (Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 35.4 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Bank robbery and incidental crimes " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In January 2014 the Justice Department said the government brought 2128.9 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 N Mexico 17,780 309 1 5 5 More Arizona 10,969 599 2 4 4 More Cal, S 8,408 235 3 3 3 More Texas, W 7,811 429 4 2 2 More W Virg, N 7,257 56 5 81 70 More S Dakota 6,624 46 6 32 42 More Texas, S 5,834 433 7 1 1 More Wyoming 5,829 28 8 79 64 More N Dakota 4,803 28 9 49 60 More Ala, S 4,458 31 10 61 59 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The District of New Mexico—with 17780 prosecutions as compared with 2128.9 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during January 2014. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
The District of Arizona ranked 2nd. The District of Arizona was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
Southern District of California (San Diego) is now ranking 3rd. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were South Dakota , now ranked 6th , and North Dakota at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 32nd and 49th one year ago and 42nd and 60th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 82.8 percent—was Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling). This was the same district that had the largest increase— 36.8 percent—when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 24.4 percent—was Southern District of Alabama (Mobile). This was the same district that had the largest increase— 25.5 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 January 2014 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 107 1 1 4 More Gelpi, Gustavo Antonio, Jr. Puer Rico 86 2 65 109 More Moses, Alia Texas, W 85 3 2 - More Jorgenson, Cindy K. Arizona 79 4 27 38 More Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 68 5 - - More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 68 5 3 11 More Collins, Raner Christercunean Arizona 56 7 33 33 More Delgado-Colon, Aida M. Puer Rico 56 7 72 77 More Zipps, Jennifer Guerin Arizona 53 9 34 - More Snow, G. Murray Arizona 51 10 45 121 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 8 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 2 judges were from other districts.
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 1st with 107 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 4).
Judge Gustavo Antonio Gelpi, Jr. in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 2nd with 86 defendants in cases.
Judge Alia Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 3rd with 85 defendants in cases. Judge Mosesalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 2).
Report Generated: March 17, 2014
