Percent Change from 5 years ago (Including Magistrate Court)
-16.6
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Excluding Magistrate Court)
-15.0
Table 1. Criminal Prosecutions
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2018 the government reported 45 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Social Security Administration.
According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 32.8 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 2018 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in
the previous year, the number of filings was up (41.8%).
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 16.6 percent from levels reported in 2013.
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 October 2018 was for "Fraud-Federal Program", accounting for 42.2 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Theft-Government Property" (17.8%), "Fraud-Other" (15.6%), "Fraud-Health Care" (4.4%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Other" (4.4%), "Fugitive Crimes" (4.4%), "Fraud-Federal Procurement" (2.2%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (2.2%), "Immigration" (2.2%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (2.2%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (2.2%).
See Figure 2.
Figure 2. Specific Types of Prosecutions
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In October 2018, 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 October the most frequently cited lead charge was
Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 involving "Public money, property or records". This was the lead charge
for 100 percent of all magistrate filings in October.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In October 2018, 42 defendants in new cases
for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during October there
were an additional 0 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 2018 referred by the Social Security Administration.
"Public money, property or records" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
"Public money, property or records" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Fed Old Age, Survivors & Disab Insur -Penalties" under Title 42 U.S.C Section 408.
"Fed Old Age, Survivors & Disab Insur -Penalties" under Title 42 U.S.C Section 408 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd were "Aggravated Identity Theft" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028, "Fail to register as sex offender after traveling interstate commerce" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 2250, "Social Security -Procedure for payment of benefits" under Title 42 U.S.C Section 1383 and "Fraudulent acts; penalties; restitution" under Title 42 U.S.C Section 1383.
"Social Security -Procedure for payment of benefits" under Title 42 U.S.C Section 1383 was ranked 8 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago."Fraudulent acts; penalties; restitution" under Title 42 U.S.C Section 1383 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest
increase in prosecutions — up 500 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1028
that involves " Fraud and related activity - id documents ".
Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 300 percent — was registered for
prosecutions under " Fraud/false statements or entries generally " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1001 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest
decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 53.8 percent — was
" Fraud by wire, radio, or television " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 ).
Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 61.5 percent — was
for filings where the lead charge was " Social Security -Procedure for payment of benefits " (Title 42 U.S.C Section 1383 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In October 2018 the Justice Department said the government brought 15.5 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.
The Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) — with 5 prosecutions — was the most active during October 2018.
The Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock), District of Massachusetts, Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit), Western District of Michigan (Grand Rapids), Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis), District of Puerto Rico, Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) and Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) ranked 2nd.
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 2018 are shown in Table 4.
All 30 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings. (Because of ties, there were a total of 30 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Susan Paradise Baxter in the Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) ranked 1st with 3 defendants in cases.
Judges Paul Lewis Maloney in the Western District of Michigan (Grand Rapids) and Norman K. Moon in the Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) ranked 2nd with 2 defendants in cases.