Prosecutions for June 2012
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during June 2012 the government reported 14352 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 9.5% 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 2012 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was only slightly up (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 44.5 percent from levels reported in 2007.
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 0.4 percent instead of 44.5 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 June 2012 was for "Immigration", accounting for 57.2 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (10.4%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (7.1%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (4.6%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.9%), "Assimilated Crimes" (2.7%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (2.7%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in June 2012 was DHS accounting for 63 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (9% ), DEA (8%), ATF (5%), Defense (3%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In June 2012, 9157 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 49.1 percent of all magistrate filings in June.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (25.3%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In June 2012, 5195 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during June there were an additional 2253 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 2012.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,962 1 1 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 876 2 3 3 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 848 3 2 1 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 521 4 4 4 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 249 5 5 5 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 143 6 6 6 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 100 7 8 9 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 94 8 9 16 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 89 9 13 13 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 87 10 14 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 2 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "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.
Ranked 3rd was "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.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 5.5 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 that involves " Firearms; Unlawful acts ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—75.3 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 17.9 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— 32 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 June 2012 the Justice Department said the government brought 2911.2 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 18,890 507 1 4 4 More N Mexico 17,794 298 2 5 5 More Texas, W 13,994 715 3 2 2 More Arizona 10,116 556 4 1 3 More S Dakota 8,863 60 5 46 53 More Texas, S 8,304 582 6 3 1 More N Dakota 8,163 44 7 73 74 More Kansas 7,365 173 8 26 25 More W Virg, N 6,294 47 9 62 58 More Tenn, E 5,205 109 10 27 36 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of California (San Diego)—with 18890 prosecutions as compared with 2911.2 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during June 2012. 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 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.
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 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Kansas , now ranked 8th , and Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 26th and 27th one year ago and 25th and 36th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 58 percent—was Kansas . This was the same district that had the largest increase— 75.2 percent—when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 18.3 percent—was Southern District of Texas (Houston). But over the past five years, Montana showed the largest drop— 25.6 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 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia Texas, W 192 1 1 - More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 138 2 15 3 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 116 3 5 6 More Vratil, Kathryn Hoefer Kansas 90 4 198 343 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 79 5 7 11 More Nugent, Donald C. Ohio, N 76 6 247 189 More Sparks, Sam Texas, W 68 7 37 120 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 66 8 9 2 More Guaderrama, David C. Texas, W 64 9 - - More Tagle, Hilda G. Texas, S 62 10 17 12 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 Alia Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 192 defendants in cases. Judge Mosesalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 1).
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 2nd with 138 defendants in cases.
Judge Randy Crane in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 116 defendants in cases. Judge Crane appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 5) and five years ago (rank 6).
Report Generated: August 27, 2012
