| Most Racial Violence Civil Rights Cases Not Prosecuted |
| (23 Jul 2013)
Since George Zimmerman was acquitted in Florida state court of all charges in the death of Trayvon Martin, there has been significant public speculation as to whether the federal government would pursue civil rights charges; one possibility would be a charge categorized as racial violence.
According to the latest available data from the Department of Justice, as of May 2013 a total of 11 convictions for racial violence civil rights violations have been obtained by federal prosecutors so far in FY 2013.
Not all referrals to federal prosecutors for civil rights offenses involving racial violence go forward with an actual prosecution. During the current fiscal year, federal prosecutors have closed three-quarters (76%) of these referrals without taking any court action. By comparison, the turn-down rate for prosecutions of all civil rights cases in the current fiscal year is 81 percent. However, federal prosecutors usually obtain convictions in those cases they decide to prosecute. The 11 defendants convicted of racial violence so far in FY 2013 represent 92 percent of all prosecutions completed for this offense. For civil rights cases in general, 88 percent of defendants have been convicted. For more details, including a timeline of such prosecutions since 1995, see the report at: http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/crim/324In addition to this report on racial violence civil rights cases, TRAC continues to offer free reports on program categories such as immigration, drugs, weapons, terrorism and white collar crime. TRAC's reports also monitor the enforcement activities of selected government agencies such as ATF, DHS, the FBI and the IRS. For the latest information on prosecutions and convictions through May 2013, go to: http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/bulletins/Even more detailed criminal enforcement information for the period from FY 1986 through May 2013 is available to TRACFed subscribers via the Express and Going Deeper tools. Go to http://tracfed.syr.edu for more information. Customized reports for a specific agency, district, program, lead charge or judge are available via the TRAC Data Interpreter, either as part of a TRACFed subscription or on a per-report basis. Go to http://trac.syr.edu/interpreter to start. To keep up with TRAC, follow us on Twitter @tracreports or like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/tracreportsTRAC is self-supporting and depends on foundation grants, individual contributions and subscription fees for the funding needed to obtain, analyze and publish the data we collect on the activities of the US Federal government. To help support TRAC's ongoing efforts, go to: http://trac.syr.edu/sponsor/ |
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