Terrorism-Domestic Prosecutions for April 2024

Number Latest Month 21
Number Previous Month 82
Percent Change from 1 year ago 22.2
Percent Change from 5 years ago 354.3
Table 1. Criminal Terrorism-Domestic Prosecutions

The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2024 the government reported 21 new terrorism-domestic prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down from 82 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 2).

When monthly 2024 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (22.2%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 354.3 percent from levels reported in 2019.

The substantial growth in these cases is partly related to increases in the matters filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. If magistrate cases are excluded and only Federal District Court cases are counted, the overall increase in terrorism-domestic prosecutions is 283.3 percent instead of 354.3 percent. The evidence suggests that part of the difference may be the result of improvements in the recording of the magistrate cases by the Justice Department.


Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Terrorism-Domestic Prosecutions

The increase from the levels five years ago in terrorism-domestic prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 2. The vertical bars in Figure 2 represent the number of terrorism-domestic 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. To view trends year-by-year rather than month-by-month, see TRAC's annual report series for a broader picture.

Number of Defendants in Terrorism-Domestic Cases

Table 2 lists all separate cases with the number of defendants.

Case Defendant #  
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 1 1 Details
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 1 2 Details
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 1 3 Details
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 1 4 Details
2024 - Ala, M (Montgomery) Case: 2 1 Details
2024 - Arizona (Phoenix) Case: 3 1 Details
2024 - Cal, N (San Francisco) Case: 4 1 Details
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 5 1 Details
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 6 1 Details
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 7 1 Details
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 8 1 Details
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 9 1 Details
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 10 1 Details
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 11 1 Details
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 12 1 Details
2024 - D. C. (Washington) Case: 13 1 Details
2024 - Fla, M (Tampa) Case: 14 1 Details
2024 - Mass (Boston) Case: 15 1 Details
2024 - N. Y., W (Buffalo) Case: 16 1 Details
2024 - Texas, S (Houston) Case: 17 1 Details
2024 - Virg, E (Alexandria) Case: 18 1 Details
Table 2. Number of Defendants per Case

Report Generated: June 17, 2024
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Copyright 2024, TRAC Reports, Inc.

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