Terrorism-Domestic Convictions for August 2023
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during August 2023 the government reported 23 new terrorism-domestic convictions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 64.3 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants convicted 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 2023 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was up (123.4%). Convictions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are up 900 percent from levels reported in 2018.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Terrorism-Domestic Convictions
The increase from the levels five years ago in terrorism-domestic convictions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of terrorism-domestic convictions 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.
The lead investigative agency for terrorism-domestic convictions in August 2023 was FBI accounting for 96 percent of convictions. Other agencies with substantial numbers of terrorism-domestic convictions were: Interior (4% ). See Figure 3.
Terrorism-Domestic Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In August 2023, no defendants were convicted 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.
Terrorism-Domestic Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In August 2023, 23 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during August 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 August.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of terrorism-domestic matters filed in U.S. District Court during August 2023.
Lead Charge Count Rank 18 USC 1752 - Temporary residence and office of President, etc. 8 1 More 18 USC 231 - Civil Disorders 5 2 More 18 USC 875 - Interstate Communications 2 3 More 18 USC 1512 - Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant 2 3 More 18 USC 111 - Assaulting, resisting, impeding certain officers 1 5 More 18 USC 115 - Influencing, impeding, or retaliating against a Federal official 1 5 More 18 USC 844 - Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives 1 5 More 18 USC 1038 - False Information and Hoaxes 1 5 More 18 USC 2331 - Terrorism Violation 1 5 More 40 USC 5104 - Unlawful Activities 1 5 More Table 2. Top Charges for Convictions
"Temporary residence and office of President, etc." (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1752) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Civil Disorders" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 231.
Ranked 3rd were "Interstate Communications" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 875 and "Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1512.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In August 2023 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government obtained 8.3 terrorism-domestic convictions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of terrorism-domestic convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of convictions of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
The District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) — with 13 convictions — was the most active during August 2023.
The Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) ranked 2nd.
Western District of Arkansas (Fort Smith), Central District of Illinois (Springfield), Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit), Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh), District of Oregon, Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) and Eastern District of Washington (Spokane) are now ranking 3rd.
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 terrorism-domestic crime cases resulting in convictions of this type during August 2023 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Graham, James L. Ohio, S 3 1 More Cooper, Christopher Reid D. C. 2 2 More McFadden, Trevor Neil D. C. 2 2 More Hickey, Susan Owens Ark, W 1 4 More Kollar-Kotelly, Colleen D. C. 1 4 More Lamberth, Royce C. D. C. 1 4 More Boasberg, James Emanuel D. C. 1 4 More Howell, Beryl Alaine D. C. 1 4 More Jackson, Amy Berman D. C. 1 4 More Chutkan, Tanya Sue D. C. 1 4 More Moss, Randolph Daniel D. C. 1 4 More Mehta, Amit Priyavadan D. C. 1 4 More Friedrich, Dabney Langhorne D. C. 1 4 More Shadid, James Edward Ill, C 1 4 More Ludington, Thomas Lamson Mich, E 1 4 More Hernandez, Marco Antonio Oregon 1 4 More Schell, Richard A. Texas, E 1 4 More Rice, Thomas Owen Wash, E 1 4 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 18 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of terrorism-domestic convictions. (Because of ties, there were a total of 18 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge James L. Graham in the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) ranked 1st with 3 convicted in terrorism-domestic convictions.
Judges Christopher Reid Cooper in the District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) and Trevor Neil McFadden in the District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) ranked 2nd with 2 convicted in terrorism-domestic convictions.
Report Generated: October 6, 2023
