Prosecutions for February 2024
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2024 the government reported 629 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 22.1 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 (-11.4%). 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 32.3 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 February 2024 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 59.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (22.6%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (9.7%), "Violence-Other" (3.8%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.7%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2024, 89 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 February the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 59.6 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (7.9%), "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (7.9%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2024, 540 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February there were an additional 67 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 February.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during February 2024 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 339 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 47 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 15 4 3 3 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 8 5 7 4 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 8 5 5 5 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 8 5 8 9 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 8 5 6 7 More 18 USC 844 - Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives 3 9 10 11 More 18 USC 1512 - Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant 2 10 - 33 More 18 USC 2114 - Mail, money, or other property of United States 2 10 - 19 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 6 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 27.3 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 — 300 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1512 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 51.4 percent — was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 68.7 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Firearms; Penalties " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 924 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2024 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 218.6 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 W Virg, N 1,558 12 1 31 22 More Montana 1,282 12 2 29 42 More Tenn, W 926 12 3 33 11 More Alaska 854 5 4 66 61 More La, W 804 14 5 33 34 More Ken, W 736 14 6 44 26 More Tenn, E 700 16 7 18 8 More N Car, M 653 17 8 3 13 More Ala, M 605 6 9 40 59 More Mo, E 577 14 10 36 25 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) — with 1558 prosecutions as compared with 218.6 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during February 2024.
The District of Montana ranked 2nd.
Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville), now ranked 7th , and Montana at 2nd In the same order, these districts ranked 18th and 29th one year ago and 8th and 42nd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 43.9 percent — was Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 84.4 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 40.5 percent — was Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro). But over the past five years, Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) showed the largest drop — 62 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 February 2024 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Cohen, Mark Howard Ga, N 7 1 More Doughty, Terry Alvin La, W 7 1 More Stivers, Gregory N. Ken, W 6 3 More Phillips, Mary Elizabeth Mo, W 6 3 More Logan, Steven P. Arizona 5 5 More Whitney, Frank DeArmon N Car, W 5 5 More Norris, Mark Saalfield, Sr. Tenn, W 5 5 More Scoble, Mathew M. Alaska 4 8 More Collins, Raner Christercunean Arizona 4 8 More Schlesinger, Harvey Erwin Fla, M 4 8 More Treadwell, Marc Thomas Ga, M 4 8 More Bunning, David L. Ken, E 4 8 More Foote, Elizabeth Erny La, W 4 8 More Watters, Susan Pamela Montana 4 8 More Morrison, Sarah Daggett Ohio, S 4 8 More McShane, Michael Jerome Oregon 4 8 More Varlan, Thomas A. Tenn, E 4 8 More Fowlkes, John Thomas, Jr. Tenn, W 4 8 More Love, John D. Texas, E 4 8 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 8 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 11 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 19 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judges Mark Howard Cohen in the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta) and Terry Alvin Doughty in the Western District of Louisiana (Shreveport) ranked 1st with 7 defendants in cases.
Judges Gregory N. Stivers in the Western District of Kentucky (Louisville) and Mary Elizabeth Phillips in the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) ranked 3rd with 6 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: April 3, 2024
