Prosecutions for November 2016
Referring Agency: Internal Revenue Service
98 |
21.0 |
-24.5 |
-21.6 |
-23.2 |
Table 1. Criminal Prosecutions
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during November 2016 the government reported 98 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 21 percent 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 2016 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in
the previous year, the number of filings was down (-24.5%).
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 21.6 percent from levels reported in 2011.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
The decrease 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 November 2016 was for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen", accounting for 34.7 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Fraud-Tax" (28.6%), "Fraud-Other" (4.1%), "Fraud-Bankruptcy" (3.1%), "Money Laundering-Other" (3.1%), "Fraud-Advance Fee Schemes" (2%), "Fraud-Financial Institution" (2%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (2%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (2%), "Fraud-Other Business" (2%), "Fraud-Other Investment" (2%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (2%).
See Figure 2.
Figure 2. Specific Types of Prosecutions
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In November 2016, 3 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 November the most frequently cited lead charge was
Title 18 U.S.C Section 201 involving "Bribery of public officials and witnesses". This was the lead charge
for 33.3 percent of all magistrate filings in November.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In November 2016, 95 defendants in new cases
for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during November there
were an additional 1 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 November.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters
filed in U.S. District Court during November 2016 referred by the Internal Revenue Service.
Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Fraud and False statements" (Title 26 U.S.C Section 7206) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Fraud by wire, radio, or television" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343.
Ranked 3rd was "Attempt to evade or defeat tax" under Title 26 U.S.C Section 7201.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In November 2016 the Justice Department said the government brought 35.8 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the 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 of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Top 10 Districts
The Middle District of Florida (Tampa) — with 10 prosecutions — was the most active during November 2016.
The Southern District of New York (Manhattan) ranked 2nd.
Southern District of Florida (Miami) and Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville) are now ranking 3rd.
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 November 2016 are shown in Table 4.
A total of 13 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings , while the remaining 6 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 19 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Aleta Arthur Trauger in the Middle District of Tennessee (Nashville) ranked 1st with 6 defendants in cases.
Judges David G. Campbell in the District of Arizona, George Kendall Sharp in the Middle District of Florida (Tampa), Joan A. Lenard in the Southern District of Florida (Miami) and David R. Grand in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) ranked 2nd with 3 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: December 20, 2016