Prosecutions for May 2012
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during May 2012 the government reported 15879 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 6.4% 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 up (2.5 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 43.2 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 0.1 percent instead of 43.2 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 May 2012 was for "Immigration", accounting for 59.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (9.8%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (6.3%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (3.9%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.2%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.2%), "Assimilated Crimes" (2.9%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in May 2012 was DHS accounting for 65 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (8% ), DEA (7%), ATF (5%), Defense (3%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In May 2012, 10418 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 May 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 53.5 percent of all magistrate filings in May.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (22.4%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In May 2012, 5461 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during May there were an additional 2292 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 May.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during May 2012.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,961 1 1 2 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 985 2 2 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 615 3 3 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 539 4 4 4 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 273 5 5 5 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 160 6 6 6 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 114 7 9 15 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 114 7 8 9 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 112 9 7 8 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 89 10 10 7 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 10.9 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—81.4 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 20.2 percent—was Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 30 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 May 2012 the Justice Department said the government brought 3030.4 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 22,020 591 1 4 4 More N Mexico 16,062 269 2 5 6 More Texas, W 15,247 779 3 3 1 More W Virg, N 11,115 83 4 66 59 More S Dakota 9,897 67 5 47 51 More Texas, S 9,331 654 6 2 2 More Arizona 9,224 507 7 1 3 More D. C. 8,805 44 8 52 84 More N Dakota 8,348 45 9 69 72 More Wyoming 5,953 27 10 73 63 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of California (San Diego)—with 22020 prosecutions as compared with 3030.4 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during May 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 6 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 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were South Dakota , now ranked 5th , and Washington, D.C. (Washington) at 8th In the same order, these districts ranked 47th and 52nd one year ago and 51st and 84th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 23.1 percent—was South Dakota . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 109.4 percent—was Washington, D.C. (Washington).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 26.3 percent—was Wyoming . This was the same district that had the largest increase— 25 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 May 2012 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia Texas, W 210 1 1 - More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 120 2 8 4 More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 116 3 6 10 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 87 4 12 2 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 85 5 7 11 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 85 5 3 6 More Bencivengo, Cathy Ann Cal, S 66 7 870 991 More Briones, David Texas, W 64 8 14 7 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 62 9 10 7 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 60 10 11 5 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
All 10 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capita.
Judge Alia Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 210 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 120 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 8) and five years ago (rank 4).
Judge Robert A. Junell in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 3rd with 116 defendants in cases. Judge Junell appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 6) and five years ago (rank 10).
Report Generated: July 31, 2012
