Prosecutions for October 2013
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2013 the government reported 12301 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 7.3% 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 2013 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-5.4 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 7.9 percent from levels reported in 2008.
The leveling out 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 October 2013 was for "Immigration", accounting for 52.9 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (11%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (8.7%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (4.3%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.7%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.8%), "Assimilated Crimes" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in October 2013 was DHS accounting for 61 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (9% ), DEA (8%), ATF (5%), Interior (3%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In October 2013, 7837 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 October 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 35.4 percent of all magistrate filings in October.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (33%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In October 2013, 4464 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during October there were an additional 2008 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 October.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during October 2013.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,555 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 716 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 508 3 3 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 480 4 4 4 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 277 5 5 5 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 135 6 6 8 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 93 7 8 6 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 84 8 11 16 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 80 9 9 9 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 78 10 10 10 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 11 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 that involves " Public money, property or records ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—39.6 %—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 15.9 percent—was Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1546 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease— 47.9 %—when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In October 2013 the Justice Department said the government brought 2474.1 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 21,405 372 1 5 5 More Cal, S 15,528 434 2 3 3 More Texas, W 9,650 530 3 1 2 More Wyoming 7,703 37 4 81 65 More Texas, S 7,545 560 5 2 1 More Arizona 6,391 349 6 4 4 More S Dakota 6,192 43 7 28 41 More N Dakota 6,003 35 8 55 73 More Montana 5,492 46 9 65 66 More W Virg, N 5,314 41 10 56 64 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The District of New Mexico—with 21405 prosecutions as compared with 2474.1 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during October 2013. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 2nd. 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.
Western District of Texas (San Antonio) is now ranking 3rd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were South Dakota , now ranked 7th , and North Dakota at 8th In the same order, these districts ranked 28th and 55th one year ago and 41st and 73rd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 65.1 percent—was Wyoming . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 58.5 percent—was North Dakota .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 27.5 percent—was Arizona . But over the past five years, Western District of Texas (San Antonio) showed the largest drop— 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 October 2013 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 165 1 - - More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 93 2 4 11 More Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 79 3 12 13 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 70 4 5 7 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 68 5 6 3 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 65 6 3 5 More Moses, Alia Texas, W 57 7 1 - More Ramos, Nelva Gonzales Texas, S 52 8 13 - More Jorgenson, Cindy K. Arizona 48 9 39 50 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 48 9 7 8 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 Kenneth John Gonzales in the District of New Mexico ranked 1st with 165 defendants in cases.
Judge Robert A. Junell in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 93 defendants in cases. Judge Junellalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 4).
Judge Andrew S. Hanen in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 79 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: January 13, 2014
