Prosecutions for April 2024
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2024 the government reported 754 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 15.5 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 2024 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-7.3%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are down 30.9 percent from levels reported in 2019.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
The decrease from the levels five years ago in prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of 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.
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in April 2024 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 53.6 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (23.6%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (13.1%), "Violence-Other" (2.8%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.7%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In April 2024, 105 defendants in cases for these matters 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 April the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 38.1 percent of all magistrate filings in April.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (16.2%), "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (12.4%), "Other US Code Section" (7.6%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In April 2024, 649 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during April there were an additional 68 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 April.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during April 2024 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 359 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 83 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 16 4 3 3 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 12 5 5 6 More 18 USC 844 - Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives 10 6 8 10 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 8 7 7 5 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 7 8 8 8 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 7 8 6 7 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 5 10 8 9 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841. "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section. "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 22.2 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1951 that involves " Hobbs Act ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 38.7 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 38 percent — was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 62.9 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In April 2024 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 258.2 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of 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 prosecutions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Wash, E 2,335 33 1 36 66 More Montana 2,031 19 2 24 44 More N Dakota 1,540 10 3 70 91 More Alaska 1,196 7 4 63 63 More Vermont 927 5 5 42 74 More Utah 887 25 6 51 28 More Miss, S 844 13 7 58 21 More N Car, W 776 22 8 17 37 More Ken, E 753 14 9 44 26 More Ala, S 695 5 10 35 54 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Eastern District of Washington (Spokane) — with 2335 prosecutions as compared with 258.2 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during April 2024.
The District of Montana ranked 2nd.
District of North Dakota is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Western District of North Carolina (Asheville), now ranked 8th , and Montana at 2nd In the same order, these districts ranked 17th and 24th one year ago and 37th and 44th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 205.9 percent — was North Dakota . This was the same district that had the largest increase — 940 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 29.5 percent — was Southern District of Alabama (Mobile). But over the past five years, Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson) showed the largest drop — 60 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 crime cases of this type during April 2024 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Kimball, Dale A. Utah 13 1 More Watters, Susan Pamela Montana 10 2 More Reidinger, Martin Karl N Car, W 10 2 More Domenico, Daniel Desmond Colorado 8 4 More Waddoups, Clark Utah 8 4 More Dever, James C., III N Car, E 6 6 More Ramos, Nelva Gonzales Texas, S 6 6 More Reeves, Danny C. Ken, E 5 8 More Sachs, Howard Frederic Mo, W 5 8 More Cogburn, Max Oliver, Jr. N Car, W 5 8 More Mariani, Robert David Penn, M 5 8 More Lee, Susan K. Tenn, E 5 8 More Priest Johnson, Kimberly C. Texas, E 5 8 More Payne, Robert E. Virg, E 5 8 More Novak, David John Virg, E 5 8 More Bastian, Stanley Allen Wash, E 5 8 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 7 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capita, while the remaining 9 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 16 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Dale A. Kimball in the District of Utah ranked 1st with 13 defendants in cases.
Judges Susan Pamela Watters in the District of Montana and Martin Karl Reidinger in the Western District of North Carolina (Asheville) ranked 2nd with 10 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: June 17, 2024
