Prosecutions for December 2013
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2013 the government reported 10855 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 4.2% 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 2013 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-11.8 percent). 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 10.1 percent from levels reported in 2008.
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 December 2013 was for "Immigration", accounting for 52.4 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (12.2%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (10.6%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (3.8%), "Assimilated Crimes" (3.3%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (2.8%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in December 2013 was DHS accounting for 60 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (10% ), DEA (8%), ATF (4%), Defense (3%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In December 2013, 6555 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 December the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 involving the "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.". This was the lead charge for 36.1 percent of all magistrate filings in December.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (34.3%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In December 2013, 4300 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during December there were an additional 1867 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 December.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during December 2013.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,576 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 639 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 502 3 3 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 381 4 4 4 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 228 5 5 5 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 127 6 6 8 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 89 7 7 10 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 74 8 11 9 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 73 9 8 15 More 18 USC 1546 - Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents 73 9 10 6 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 "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846. "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 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 5.4 percent—compared to one year ago was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 that involves " Bringing in and harboring certain aliens ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase—34.4 percent—was registered for prosecutions under " Public money, property or records " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago—down 13.6 percent—was Bank robbery and incidental crimes (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions— 52.4 percent—was for filings where the lead charge was " Fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1546 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In December 2013 the Justice Department said the government brought 2357.5 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 N Mexico 19,678 342 1 5 5 More Cal, S 14,848 415 2 3 3 More N Dakota 11,663 68 3 47 61 More Texas, W 10,087 554 4 2 2 More Texas, S 8,501 631 5 1 1 More Arizona 7,343 401 6 4 4 More Ken, E 6,120 111 7 34 22 More S Dakota 5,472 38 8 26 41 More W Virg, S 5,293 41 9 84 74 More Montana 4,179 35 10 64 67 More Table 3: Top 10 districts (per ten million people)
The District of New Mexico—with 19678 prosecutions as compared with 2357.5 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States—was the most active during December 2013. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 2nd. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 for most frequent use five years ago.
District of North Dakota is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were South Dakota , now ranked 8th , and Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington) at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 26th and 34th one year ago and 41st and 22nd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago— 84.5 percent—was Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth— 28.7 percent—was Montana .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions— 22.7 percent—was South Dakota . But over the past five years, Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington) showed the largest drop— 14.5 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 December 2013 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia Texas, W 125 1 2 - More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 105 2 1 4 More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 93 3 3 11 More Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 70 4 - - More Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 69 5 10 12 More Snow, G. Murray Arizona 62 6 37 177 More Garcia Marmolejo, Marina Texas, S 59 7 12 - More Van Tatenhove, Gregory Frederick Ken, E 58 8 222 82 More Wake, Neil Vincent Arizona 57 9 34 69 More Houston, John A. Cal, S 55 10 13 21 More Table 4: Top 10 judges
All 10 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capita.
Judge Alia Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 125 defendants in cases. Judge Mosesalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 2).
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 2nd with 105 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 4).
Judge Robert A. Junell in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 3rd with 93 defendants in cases. Judge Junellalso appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago(ranked 3).
Report Generated: February 11, 2014
