One in Five International Terrorism Prosecutions in Eastern Virginia

Table 1. Criminal Prosecutions for
International Terrorism

(click title to open in a new window)
  FY 2016* FY 1997-
FY 2015
Total
Defendants
Total 49 1,131 1,180
Virg, E 11 221 232
D. C. 0 91 91
N. Y., E 7 82 89
Fla, S 2 78 80
N Car, W 1 65 66
N. J. 2 57 59
N. Y., S 3 51 54
Mich, E 0 43 43
Penn, E 0 35 35
Conn 0 33 33
Ill, N 1 28 29
Cal, C 4 23 27
Minnesota 1 26 27
Fla, M 0 20 20
N. Y., W 1 17 18
Cal, S 0 14 14
Ohio, N 2 12 14
Cal, E 1 12 13
N Car, E 1 12 13
Mo, E 0 11 11
Texas, N 1 10 11
Cal, N 1 9 10
Oregon 0 10 10
Maryland 1 8 9
Nevada 0 9 9
Wash, E 0 9 9
Ark, E 0 8 8
Mass 0 8 8
Wash, W 0 8 8
Colorado 0 7 7
Ga, N 0 7 7
Utah 3 4 7
Iowa, N 0 6 6
Ohio, S 1 4 5
Wisc, E 4 1 5
Idaho 0 4 4
La, E 0 4 4
Penn, W 0 4 4
S Car 0 4 4
Texas, S 0 4 4
Texas, W 0 4 4
Arizona 0 3 3
Ken, W 0 3 3
Miss, S 0 3 3
Ala, N 0 2 2
Ala, S 0 2 2
Ill, C 0 2 2
Ind, N 0 2 2
Ind, S 0 2 2
Ken, E 0 2 2
Miss, N 0 2 2
N Car, M 0 2 2
N Mexico 0 2 2
N. Y., N 0 2 2
Okla, N 0 2 2
Tenn, W 0 2 2
Texas, E 0 2 2
Alaska 0 1 1
Ark, W 0 1 1
Ga, S 0 1 1
Iowa, S 0 1 1
Kansas 0 1 1
Maine 0 1 1
N Dakota 0 1 1
New Hamp 0 1 1
Penn, M 1 0 1
R. I. 0 1 1
Tenn, E 0 1 1
W Virg, N 0 1 1
Wisc, W 0 1 1
Ala, M 0 0 0
Delaware 0 0 0
Fla, N 0 0 0
Ga, M 0 0 0
Hawaii 0 0 0
Ill, S 0 0 0
La, M 0 0 0
La, W 0 0 0
Mich, W 0 0 0
Mo, W 0 0 0
Montana 0 0 0
Nebraska 0 0 0
Okla, W 0 0 0
S Dakota 0 0 0
Tenn, M 0 0 0
Vermont 0 0 0
Virg, W 0 0 0
W Virg, S 0 0 0

*current through June 2016

The Eastern District of Virginia headquartered in Alexandria leads the country in the number of international terrorism cases it prosecutes. The recent arrest of a Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) law enforcement officer, Nicholas Young, is but the latest example. "Long known for its expertise in espionage and terrorism cases" according to the Justice Department, a total of 232 out of 1,180 federal criminal prosecutions nationally for international terrorism—or one out of every five—have been filed in Eastern Virginia since Justice Department data began tracking these crimes in FY 1995.

The District of Columbia closely followed by the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) rank second and third, respectively, in the number of international terrorism cases they have prosecuted over the years. These districts prosecuted 91 and 89 international terrorism defendants according to the latest case-by-case data, updated through June 2016, analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University.

Table 2. Criminal
International Terrorism Prosecutions
Number Year-to-date 49
Percent Change from previous year 10.2
Percent Change from 5 years ago 35.4
Percent Change from 10 years ago 35.4
Percent Change from 20 years ago 400

The Southern District of Florida (Miami) followed by the Western District of North Carolina (Asheville) were the fourth and fifth most active districts in the prosecution of international terrorism cases. Figures for these districts and the remaining 90 federal judicial districts are shown in Table 1.

National Trends

Looking at the nation as a whole, the latest available data from the Justice Department show that during the first nine months of FY 2016 the government reported 49 new terrorism-international prosecutions. If this activity continues at the same pace, the annual total of prosecutions will be 65 for this fiscal year. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by TRAC, this estimate is up 10.2 percent over the past fiscal year when the number of prosecutions totaled 59.

The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with international terrorism 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 2).

Compared to five years ago when there were 48, the estimate of FY 2016 prosecutions of this type is up 35.4 percent. Prosecutions over the past year are similarly higher than they were ten years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 400 percent from the level of 13 reported in 1996.

The long term trend in international terrorism prosecutions for these matters going back to FY 1996 is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of prosecutions of this type recorded each fiscal year. Projected figures for the current fiscal year are shown. Each presidential administration is distinguished by the color of the bars. To view trends month-by-month rather than year-by-year, see TRAC's monthly report series for the latest data.

Bar chart of shortyear

Figure 1: Criminal Terrorism-International Prosecutions over the last 20 years
Pie chart of agengrp
Figure 2: Prosecutions by Investigative Agency

Leading Investigative Agencies

The lead investigative agency for terrorism-international prosecutions through June 2016 was "Justice - Federal Bureau of Investigation" accounting for 75.5 percent of prosecutions referred.

As shown in Figure 2, additional agencies with substantial numbers of terrorism-international referrals were: Homeland Security - Other (16.3%) and "Justice - Drug Enforcement Administration" (4.1%).

Top Ranked Lead Charges

Table 3 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of terrorism-international matters filed in U.S. District Court during the first nine months of FY 2016.

Note: There were an additional 40 other lead charges which were not individually ranked.

Table 3. Top Charges Files
Lead Charge Count Rank 1 yr ago 5 yrs ago 10 yrs ago 20 yrs ago
18 USC 2339B - Provide material support to foreign terrorist orgs 26 1 1 3 2 -
18 USC 2339 - Harboring or Concealing Terrorists 6 2 2 5 1 10
18 USC 2339A - Providing material support to terrorists 5 3 4 16 4 -
50 USC 1705 - International Emergency Economic Powers 4 4 14 16 10 -
22 USC 2778 - Control of arms exports and imports 3 5 14 16 18 10
18 USC 956 - Conspire to kill/kidnap/maim person or damage property foreign country 1 6 14 16 10 -
18 USC 1038 - False Information and Hoaxes 1 6 - 16 - -
18 USC 1952 - Racketeering -interstate/foreign travel/transport 1 6 3 - - -
21 USC 960 - Prohibited acts A 1 6 14 16 - -
Other US Code Section 1 6 9 3 18 10

  • "Provide material support to foreign terrorist orgs" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2339) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. Title 18 U.S.C Section 2339 was ranked 1st a year ago, while it was the 3rd most frequently invoked five years ago. It was ranked 2nd ten years ago.

  • Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Harboring or Concealing Terrorists" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 2339. Title 18 U.S.C Section 2339 was ranked 2nd a year ago, while it was the 5th most frequently invoked five years ago. It was ranked 1st ten years ago and 10th twenty years ago.

  • Ranked 3rd was "Providing material support to terrorists" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 2339. Title 18 U.S.C Section 2339 was ranked 4th a year ago. It was ranked 4th ten years ago.

Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest projected decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 78  percent—was "Racketeering -interstate/foreign travel/transport" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1952). This was the same statute that had the largest projected decrease—67 percent—when compared with five years ago.

TRAC offers free monthly reports on program categories such as white collar crime, immigration, drugs, weapons and terrorism and on selected government agencies such as the IRS, FBI, ATF and DHS. For the latest information on prosecutions and convictions, go to http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/. In addition, subscribers to the TRACFed data service can generate custom reports for a specific agency, judicial district, program category, lead charge or judge via the TRAC Data Interpreter.