Weapons Prosecutions for May 2006
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during May 2006 the government reported filing 781 new weapons prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 9.7% over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with weapons -related offenses 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 2006 prosecutions are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the filings were down (-12 percent). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that the prosecutions are up 38.5 percent from levels reported in 2001.
The broad pattern of increase in weapons prosecutions over the past five years is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of weapons prosecutions recorded on a month-to-month basis. 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.
The lead investigative agency for weapons prosecutions in May 2006 was ATF accounting for 82 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of weapons referrals were: Local (6% ), FBI (5%), DEA (2%). See Figure 2.
Lead Charge in Weapons Prosecutions
US Magistrate Courts
In May 2006, 15 percent of weapons cases took place in U.S. Magistrate Courts which handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In the magistrate courts in May the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving the "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 68.6 percent of all magistrate filings in May.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 0846 - Drugs: Attempt and conspiracy" (12.7%), "18 USC 0924 - Firearms, Penalties" (6.8%).
US District Courts
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecution of weapons matters filed in U.S. District court during May 2006.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 0922 - Firearms, Unlawful acts 508 1 1 1 18 USC 0924 - Firearms, Penalties 51 2 2 2 21 USC 0846 - Drugs: Attempt and conspiracy 24 3 4 6 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 23 4 5 3 21 USC 0841 - Drug Abuse Prevention + Control-Prohibited acts A 20 5 3 4 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 16 6 6 7 18 USC 0371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 5 7 7 9 18 USC 0842 - Explosives - Importation, manufacture, etc 4 8 11 14 22 USC 0301 - Adultery 4 8 - - 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 2 10 8 5
Table 2: Top 10 charges filed
"Firearms; Unlawful acts" (18 U.S.C Section 922 ) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. This statute was also ranked 1st a year ago as well as five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Firearms; Penalties" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 924 . This statute was also ranked 2nd a year ago as well as five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 . This statute was ranked 4th a year ago, while it was the 6th most frequently invoked 5 years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions—up 37.5 percent—compared to one year ago was 18 U.S.C Section 371 that involves "Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase—175 %—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 55.8 percent—was Attempt and conspiracy (21 U.S.C Section 846 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 66.7 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was "Bank robbery and incidental crimes " (18 U.S.C Section 2113).
Weapons Prosecutions by Judicial District
In May 2006 the Justice Department said the government brought approximately 270.9 weapons prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in number of weapons prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts. The ten districts registering the largest number of prosecutions (per capita) last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 weapons prosecutions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Wyoming 3,554 1 3 - Tenn, W 2,275 2 5 - W Virg, N 1,369 3 8 - Texas, E 1,349 4 17 24 La, M 1,153 5 4 - S Car 1,143 6 20 19 D. C. 1,084 7 1 1 N Car, W 1,081 8 14 - Mo, E 965 9 12 9 N Dakota 946 10 - -
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
Wyoming —with 3554 prosecutions as compared with 270.9 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during May 2006. The district's position last year was 3rd.
Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd . This marked a rise from Tennessee West 's 5thplace ranking just one year ago.
Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) is now ranking 3rd . It moved up in its rankings from a year ago when it ranked 8th.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis), now ranked 9th , and Western District of North Carolina (Asheville) at 8th. In the same order, these districts ranked 12th and 14th one year ago and 9th and .th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in weapons prosecutions compared to one year ago— 61 percent—was Wyoming . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 185.3 percent—was Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis).
In the last year, the judicial district court recording the largest drop in weapons prosecutions— 18 percent—was Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling). But over the past five years, showed the largest drop— 200 percent.
Top Ranked District Judges
At any one time, there are about 680 federal district court judges working in the United States. For the entire nation, the judges recorded with the largest number of new weapons crime cases during May 2006 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Fitzpatrick, Duross Ga, M 12 1 10 141 Voorhees, Richard Lesley N Car, W 11 2 4 29 Wooten, Terry L. S Car 10 3 191 - Harwell, Robert Bryan S Car 9 4 108 - Broadwater, W. Craig W Virg, N 9 4 55 231 Johnson, Alan Bond Wyoming 9 4 31 297 Donald, Bernice B. Tenn, W 8 7 49 115 Barbour, William H. Jr. Miss, S 7 8 220 42 McCalla, Jon Phipps Tenn, W 7 8 35 - Mays, Samuel H. Jr. Tenn, W 6 10 40 -
Table 4: Top 10 judges
A total of 8 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of weapons filings per capita, while the remaining 2 judges were from other districts.
Judge Duross Fitzpatrick in the Middle District of Georgia (Macon) ranked 1st with 12 defendants in new weapons cases. Judge Fitzpatrick also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 10th).
Judge Richard Lesley Voorhees in the Western District of North Carolina (Asheville) ranked 2nd with 11 defendants in new weapons cases. Judge Voorhees also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 4th).
Judge Terry L. Wooten in South Carolina ranked 3rd with 10 new weapons cases.
