Prosecutions for March 2012
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2012 the government reported 14402 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 10.4% 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 (1.7 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 41.5 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 2.3 percent instead of 41.5 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 March 2012 was for "Immigration", accounting for 52.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (12.2%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (8%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (4.7%), "Assimilated Crimes" (2.9%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (2.9%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.7%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in March 2012 was DHS accounting for 60 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (9% ), DEA (8%), ATF (6%), Defense (3%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2012, 8574 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 March 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 43.8 percent of all magistrate filings in March.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (25.6%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In March 2012, 5828 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March there were an additional 2453 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 March.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during March 2012.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 2,052 1 1 2 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 1,044 2 2 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 740 3 3 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 587 4 4 4 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 291 5 5 5 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 183 6 6 6 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 128 7 8 8 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 106 8 10 7 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 105 9 7 9 More 18 USC 1341 - Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles 91 10 14 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 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 26.4 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 that involves " Importation of controlled substances ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—89 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 14.3 percent—was Mail Fraud - Frauds and swindles (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1341 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 27.1 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 March 2012 the Justice Department said the government brought 3236.8 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 18,518 497 1 4 4 More Texas, W 16,774 857 2 3 1 More N Mexico 16,719 280 3 5 6 More Arizona 13,354 734 4 2 3 More D. C. 12,807 64 5 53 77 More Wyoming 11,244 51 6 68 69 More N Dakota 10,574 57 7 72 73 More Texas, S 9,188 644 8 1 2 More S Dakota 7,386 50 9 56 45 More W Virg, N 7,098 53 10 71 58 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of California (San Diego)—with 18518 prosecutions as compared with 3236.8 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during March 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 Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 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 6 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Washington, D.C. (Washington), now ranked 5th , and South Dakota at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 53rd and 56th one year ago and 77th and 45th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 44 percent—was North Dakota . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 95.3 percent—was Arizona .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 35.1 percent—was Wyoming . This was the same district that had the largest increase— 21.5 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 March 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia Texas, W 237 1 1 - More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 130 2 5 3 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 101 3 11 8 More Dominguez, Daniel R. Puer Rico 94 4 187 255 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 82 5 7 9 More Martinez, Philip Ray Texas, W 76 6 12 7 More Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 75 7 16 13 More Briones, David Texas, W 74 8 13 6 More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 71 9 4 10 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 71 9 14 5 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 237 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 130 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 5) and five years ago (rank 3).
Judge Kathleen Cardone in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 3rd with 101 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: June 11, 2012
