Prosecutions for January 2020
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2020 the government reported 12772 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 6.8 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 (-20.1%). 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 11.6 percent from levels reported in 2015.
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 January 2020 was for "Immigration", accounting for 62.8 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (8.3%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (7.7%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (6%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.1%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (2.1%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in January 2020 was DHS accounting for 68 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (7% ), DEA (7%), ATF (6%), Defense (2%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In January 2020, 8346 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 January 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 46.7 percent of all magistrate filings in January.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (30.4%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In January 2020, 4426 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during January there were an additional 3301 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 January.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during January 2020.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 2,903 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 782 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 700 3 3 4 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 487 4 5 5 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 407 5 4 3 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 160 6 6 6 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 83 7 7 7 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 76 8 9 10 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 76 8 10 12 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 4 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 49.6 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 that involves " Importation of controlled substances ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 460 percent — was registered for prosecutions under "Other US Code Section " (Title U.S.C Section ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 4.8 percent — was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 18 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In January 2020 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 2834.1 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 18,640 1,114 1 4 3 More N Mexico 18,497 323 2 5 4 More Cal, S 15,046 442 3 3 5 More Texas, S 13,609 1,118 4 2 2 More Texas, W 13,247 811 5 1 1 More S Dakota 9,263 67 6 38 45 More Wyoming 6,647 32 7 86 60 More Ark, E 5,634 77 8 22 34 More Vermont 4,982 26 9 85 87 More Ga, S 4,822 64 10 36 73 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of Arizona — with 18640 prosecutions as compared with 2834.1 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during January 2020. The District of Arizona was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 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 Arkansas (Little Rock), now ranked 8th , and Southern District of Georgia (Savannah) at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 22nd and 36th one year ago and 34th and 73rd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 62.6 percent — was Southern District of Texas (Houston). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 122.2 percent — was Southern District of Georgia (Savannah).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 14 percent — was Vermont . But over the past five years, Wyoming showed the largest drop — 32.2 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 January 2020 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 321 1 1 1 More Saldana, Diana Texas, S 205 2 19 20 More Garcia Marmolejo, Marina Texas, S 203 3 16 22 More Ramos, Nelva Gonzales Texas, S 141 4 3 9 More Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 110 5 2 983 More Soto, James Alan Arizona 83 6 37 25 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 80 7 12 8 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 77 8 10 7 More Jorgenson, Cindy K. Arizona 76 9 853 15 More Marquez, Rosemary Arizona 75 10 35 27 More Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 75 10 4 3 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 75 10 9 6 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 12 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capit. (Because of ties, there were a total of 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Alia M. Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 321 defendants in cases. Judge Moses appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 1).
Judge Diana Saldana in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 2nd with 205 defendants in cases.
Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 3rd with 203 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: February 19, 2020
