Terrorism-Domestic Prosecutions for June 2022
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during June 2022 the government reported 36 new terrorism-domestic prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 33.3 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 2022 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-58.6%). 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 388.2 percent from levels reported in 2017.
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 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 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. 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 prosecutions in June 2022 was FBI accounting for 94 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of terrorism-domestic referrals were: SecServ (3% ). See Figure 3.
Terrorism-Domestic Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In June 2022, 7 defendants 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 June the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1752 involving "Temporary residence and office of President, etc.". This was the lead charge for 42.9 percent of all magistrate filings in June.
Terrorism-Domestic Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In June 2022, 29 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during June there were an additional 3 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 June.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of terrorism-domestic matters filed in U.S. District Court during June 2022.
Lead Charge Count Rank 18 USC 1752 - Temporary residence and office of President, etc. 15 1 More 18 USC 875 - Interstate Communications 6 2 More 18 USC 231 - Civil Disorders 3 3 More 40 USC 5104 - Unlawful Activities 3 3 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 1 5 More 18 USC 844 - Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives 1 5 More 18 USC 871 - Threats against President and successors 1 5 More 18 USC 1512 - Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant 1 5 More 18 USC 2261A - Stalking 1 5 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"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 "Interstate Communications" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 875.
Ranked 3rd were "Civil Disorders" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 231 and "Unlawful Activities" under Title 40 U.S.C Section 5104.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In June 2022 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 11.7 terrorism-domestic prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of terrorism-domestic prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 terrorism-domestic prosecutions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago D. C. 3,911 23 1 1 5 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) — with 3911 prosecutions as compared with 11.7 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during June 2022. The District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of terrorism-domestic prosecutions — 57.1 percent — was Washington, D.C. (Washington). But over the past five years, showed the largest drop — percent.
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 of this type during June 2022 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Lamberth, Royce C. D. C. 4 1 More Cooper, Christopher Reid D. C. 4 1 More Friedrich, Dabney Langhorne D. C. 3 3 More Contreras, Rudolph D. C. 2 4 More Kelly, Timothy James D. C. 2 4 More Blackburn, Robert E. Colorado 1 6 More Kollar-Kotelly, Colleen D. C. 1 6 More Bates, John D. D. C. 1 6 More Boasberg, James Emanuel D. C. 1 6 More Howell, Beryl Alaine D. C. 1 6 More Chutkan, Tanya Sue D. C. 1 6 More Mehta, Amit Priyavadan D. C. 1 6 More Honeywell, Charlene Vanessa Edwards Fla, M 1 6 More Otake, Jill Aiko Hawaii 1 6 More Bunning, David L. Ken, E 1 6 More deGravelles, John Wheadon La, M 1 6 More Welte, Peter David N Dakota 1 6 More Pittman, Mark Timothy Texas, N 1 6 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 11 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of terrorism-domestic filings per capita, while the remaining 7 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 18 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judges Royce C. Lamberth in the District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) and Christopher Reid Cooper in the District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) ranked 1st with 4 defendants in terrorism-domestic cases.
Judge Dabney Langhorne Friedrich in the District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) ranked 3rd with 3 defendants in terrorism-domestic cases.
Report Generated: August 3, 2022
