Prosecutions for April 2024
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2024 the government reported 7247 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 0.9 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 up (2.7%). 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 57.9 percent from levels reported in 2019.
The dip in these cases is partly related to increases in the matters filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. If magistrate cases are excluded and only Federal District Court cases are counted, the overall decrease in prosecutions is 31.9 percent instead of 57.9 percent. The evidence suggests that part of the difference may be the result of improvements in the recording of the magistrate cases by the Justice Department.
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 "Immigration", accounting for 39.4 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (14.2%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (11%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (9.2%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.8%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.6%), "Assimilated Crimes" (3.4%), "Project Safe Childhood" (3.1%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in April 2024 was DHS accounting for 49 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (14% ), ATF (10%), DEA (10%), Defense (3%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In April 2024, 3685 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 1326 involving "Reentry of deported alien". This was the lead charge for 46.3 percent of all magistrate filings in April.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens" (11.3%), "08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc." (8.8%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In April 2024, 3562 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during April there were an additional 2198 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.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,517 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 637 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 577 3 3 3 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 399 4 4 5 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 236 5 5 4 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 103 7 6 10 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 76 8 8 6 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 65 9 9 9 More 18 USC 2250 - Fail to register as sex offender after traveling interstate commerce 62 10 10 14 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 "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 "Firearms; Unlawful acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 922. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 was ranked 3 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 20.1 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 2250 that involves " Fail to register as sex offender after traveling interstate commerce ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 44 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Fraud by wire, radio, or television " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 20.1 percent — was " Bringing in and harboring certain aliens " (Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 45.2 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Importation of controlled substances " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In April 2024 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 2073.9 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 Arizona 12,931 793 1 3 4 More N Dakota 11,087 72 2 60 78 More D. C. 10,896 61 3 25 57 More N Mexico 9,312 164 4 6 5 More Texas, W 9,240 601 5 1 1 More Cal, S 8,405 242 6 4 3 More Okla, N 6,772 62 7 22 74 More S Dakota 6,293 47 8 32 39 More Alaska 5,637 33 9 79 85 More Texas, S 5,504 468 10 2 2 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of Arizona — with 12931 prosecutions as compared with 2073.9 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during April 2024. The District of Arizona was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
The District of North Dakota ranked 2nd.
District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of Oklahoma (Tulsa), now ranked 7th , and Washington, D.C. (Washington) at 3rd In the same order, these districts ranked 22nd and 25th one year ago and 74th and 57th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 57.1 percent — was North Dakota . This was the same district that had the largest increase — 79.4 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 15.9 percent — was Southern District of Texas (Houston). But over the past five years, New Mexico showed the largest drop — 59 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 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 318 1 1 2 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 86 2 8 5 More Kimmins, Lynnette C. Arizona 70 3 269 137 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 60 4 7 10 More Garcia Marmolejo, Marina Texas, S 52 5 10 16 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 51 6 56 26 More Madonald, Bruce Gordon Arizona 50 7 233 121 More Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 47 8 12 11 More Welte, Peter David N Dakota 46 9 48 - More Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 44 10 2 1 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 318 defendants in cases. Judge Moses appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 2).
Judge Kathleen Cardone in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 86 defendants in cases. Judge Cardone appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 8) and five years ago (rank 5).
Judge Lynnette C. Kimmins in the District of Arizona ranked 3rd with 70 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: June 17, 2024
