Prosecutions for June 2010
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during June 2010 the government reported 15857 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 9.1% 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 2010 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was only slightlyup (1.6 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 43.8 percent from levels reported in 2005.
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 0.9 percent instead of 43.8 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 June 2010 was for "Immigration", accounting for 50.4 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (12.2%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (8.5%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (4.6%), "Assimilated Crimes" (3.7%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.6%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.2%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in June 2010 was DHS accounting for 56 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: DEA (11% ), FBI (10%), ATF (6%), Defense (3%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In June 2010, 9204 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 June 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 43.7 percent of all magistrate filings in June.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (24.7%), "18 USC 13 - Laws of States Adopted in Federal jurisdiction" (5.5%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In June 2010, 6653 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during June there were an additional 2590 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 June.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during June 2010.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 8 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 2,193 1 1 2 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A 1,393 2 2 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 851 3 3 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 558 4 4 4 More 8 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 313 5 5 5 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 161 6 7 14 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank fraud 134 7 12 10 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 129 8 6 7 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 126 9 14 13 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 120 10 9 12 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 47.4 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 that involves " Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—108.5 percent—was registered for prosecutions 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 prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 33.2 percent—was Importation of controlled substances (Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease— 24.5 %—when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In June 2010 the Justice Department said the government brought 15498 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 28,661 480 1 5 4 More Wyoming 21,607 98 2 53 71 More Cal, S 20,940 562 3 3 5 More Texas, W 19,748 1,009 4 1 2 More Arizona 11,917 655 5 4 3 More Ala, S 10,905 75 6 62 39 More Texas, S 10,487 735 7 2 1 More D. C. 9,605 48 8 70 47 More N Dakota 7,792 42 9 77 68 More Nevada 6,402 141 10 43 26 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The District of New Mexico—with 28661 prosecutions as compared with 15498 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during June 2010. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.
The District of Wyoming ranked 2nd.
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 5 five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Nevada , now ranked 10th , and Wyoming at 2nd In the same order, these districts ranked 43rd and 53rd one year ago and 26th and 71st five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 43.1 percent—was North Dakota . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 125.7 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— 3.9 percent—was Wyoming . But over the past five years, Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) showed the largest drop— 33.2 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 June 2010 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 179 1 1 3 More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 150 2 9 8 More Kazen, George P. Texas, S 124 3 2 1 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 121 4 3 2 More Briones, David Texas, W 119 5 7 5 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 116 6 8 13 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 105 7 6 6 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 105 7 4 4 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 92 9 10 11 More Garcia-Gregory, Jay A. Puer Rico 89 10 106 98 More
Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 9 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.
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 1st with 179 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 3).
Judge Robert A. Junell in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 150 defendants in cases. Judge Junell appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 9) and five years ago (rank 8).
Judge George P. Kazen in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 124 defendants in cases. Judge Kazen appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 2) and five years ago (rank 1).
