Prosecutions for April 2020
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2020 the government reported 2824 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 74.8 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 2020 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-28.3%). 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 3.2 percent from levels reported in 2015.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
The leveling out 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 2020 was for "Immigration", accounting for 38.5 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (15.6%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (8.9%), "Assimilated Crimes" (8%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (7.2%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (5.6%), "Project Safe Childhood" (2.6%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.5%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in April 2020 was DHS accounting for 49 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (11% ), DEA (11%), Defense (10%), ATF (7%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In April 2020, 2238 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 April the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 involving "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.". This was the lead charge for 29.3 percent of all magistrate filings in April.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (11.4%), "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (7.7%), "21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances" (5.7%), "Other US Code Section" (5.4%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In April 2020, 586 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during April there were an additional 1274 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 2020.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 942 1 1 1 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 203 2 5 5 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 96 3 4 3 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 91 4 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 83 5 3 4 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 46 6 12 21 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 17 7 11 15 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 14 8 16 14 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 14 8 8 10 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 11 10 10 9 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Reentry of deported alien" (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Reentry of deported alien" (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324. "Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" under Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846. "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 18 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 that involves " Bringing in and harboring certain aliens ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 79.2 % — when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 30.8 percent — was " Bank Fraud " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 34.6 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In April 2020 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 682.2 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 Texas, W 10,177 623 1 1 2 More N Mexico 6,013 105 2 5 4 More Cal, S 4,187 123 3 3 5 More Arizona 3,915 234 4 4 3 More N Car, E 2,350 80 5 17 24 More Texas, S 1,777 146 6 2 1 More N Car, W 1,387 38 7 46 36 More Nevada 1,147 29 8 58 42 More Ga, S 1,130 15 9 30 74 More Vermont 958 5 10 81 80 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) — with 10177 prosecutions as compared with 682.2 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during April 2020. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 for most frequent use five years ago.
The District of New Mexico ranked 2nd. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
Southern District of California (San Diego) is now ranking 3rd. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh), now ranked 5th , and Southern District of Georgia (Savannah) at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 17th and 30th one year ago and 24th and 74th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 66.1 percent — was Arizona . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 77.1 percent — was Southern District of Georgia (Savannah).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 38.7 percent — was Vermont . But over the past five years, Nevada showed the largest drop — 35.1 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 2020 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 286 1 2 2 More Guaderrama, David C. Texas, W 61 2 6 21 More Montalvo, Frank Texas, W 60 3 7 8 More Martinez, Philip Ray Texas, W 59 4 4 15 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 54 5 5 9 More Briones, David Texas, W 45 6 17 13 More Morales, David Steven Texas, S 43 7 - - More Ramos, Nelva Gonzales Texas, S 42 8 12 5 More Zipps, Jennifer Guerin Arizona 30 9 32 17 More Marquez, Rosemary Arizona 25 10 34 19 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 10 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capit.
Judge Alia M. Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 286 defendants in cases. Judge Moses appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 2) and five years ago (rank 2).
Judge David C. Guaderrama in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 61 defendants in cases. Judge Guaderrama also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 6).
Judge Frank Montalvo in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 3rd with 60 defendants in cases. Judge Montalvo appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 7) and five years ago (rank 8).
Report Generated: May 21, 2020
