Prosecutions for November 2018
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during November 2018 the government reported 869 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 down 3.4 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 2018 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (15.7%). 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 38.1 percent from levels reported in 2013.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
The increase 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 November 2018 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 58.9 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (23.1%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (9.7%), "Violence-Other" (3.6%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In November 2018, 95 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 November the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 45.3 percent of all magistrate filings in November.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act" (9.5%), "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (8.4%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In November 2018, 774 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during November there were an additional 95 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 November.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during November 2018 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 508 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 85 2 2 2 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 21 4 5 5 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 18 5 4 4 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 8 6 3 3 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 7 7 6 6 More 18 USC 844 - Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives 2 8 10 9 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 2 8 13 7 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 1 10 - - More 18 USC 1623 - False declarations before grand jury or court 1 10 19 26 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 1 10 25 26 More 18 USC 2332f - Bombings of Places of Public Use 1 10 - - More 18 USC 3665 - Firearms possessed by convicted felons 1 10 14 - 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 7 a year ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 170.7 percent — compared to one year ago was Title U.S.C Section that involves "Other US Code Section ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 50 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Firearms; Penalties " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 924 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 75 percent — was " False declarations before grand jury or court " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1623 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 37.3 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In November 2018 the Justice Department said the government brought 320.2 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 Ga, S 3,857 51 1 28 19 More Ark, E 1,974 27 2 13 61 More Alaska 1,840 11 3 45 74 More Tenn, W 1,835 24 4 4 17 More Montana 1,142 10 5 40 66 More Okla, E 1,122 7 6 82 87 More Wyoming 1,036 5 7 63 61 More La, M 1,007 7 8 71 56 More S Dakota 982 7 9 63 79 More W Virg, N 907 7 10 36 51 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of Georgia (Savannah) — with 3857 prosecutions as compared with 320.2 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during November 2018.
The Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) ranked 2nd.
District of Alaska is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock), now ranked 2nd , and Southern District of Georgia (Savannah) at 1st In the same order, these districts ranked 13th and 28th one year ago and 61st and 19th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 88.9 percent — was Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 655.6 percent — was Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 27.3 percent — was Wyoming . This was the same district that had the largest increase — 11.1 percent — when compared with five years ago.
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 November 2018 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Lioi, Sara Elizabeth Ohio, N 9 1 More Lipman, Sheryl Halle Tenn, W 9 1 More Fleissig, Audrey Goldstein Mo, E 8 3 More Cummings, Samuel Ray Texas, N 8 3 More Rainey, John David Texas, S 8 3 More Coogler, L. Scott Ala, N 7 6 More Gleason, Sharon Louise Alaska 7 6 More Gilliam, Haywood Stirling, Jr. Cal, N 7 6 More DeGuilio, Jon Ernest Ind, N 7 6 More Van Tatenhove, Gregory Frederick Ken, E 7 6 More White, Ronald A. Okla, E 7 6 More Besosa, Francisco Augusto Puer Rico 7 6 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 3 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 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judges Sara Elizabeth Lioi in the Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) and Sheryl Halle Lipman in the Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 1st with 9 defendants in cases.
Judges Audrey Goldstein Fleissig in the Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis), Samuel Ray Cummings in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) and John David Rainey in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 8 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: January 11, 2019
