Prosecutions for February 2018
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2018 the government reported 880 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 up 18.8 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 2018 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (22.6%). 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 15.1 percent from levels reported in 2013.
The growth 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 increase in prosecutions is 9 percent instead of 15.1 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.
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 February 2018 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 59 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (14%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (12.8%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (6.4%), "Violence-Other" (5.3%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2018, 139 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 February the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 60.4 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties" (12.2%), "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (5.8%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2018, 741 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February there were an additional 80 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 February.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during February 2018 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 416 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 109 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 64 3 3 3 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 38 4 4 4 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 24 5 5 5 More 18 USC 554 - Smuggling goods from the United States 9 6 14 15 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 8 7 6 6 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 6 8 8 7 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 5 10 9 11 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 "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 240 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 554 that involves " Smuggling goods from the United States ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 183.3 % — 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 36.5 percent — was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 39.4 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2018 the Justice Department said the government brought 304.9 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 Tenn, W 4,588 60 1 11 13 More Alaska 1,500 9 2 73 72 More Okla, E 1,283 8 3 78 83 More N Car, W 1,085 29 4 20 13 More W Virg, N 1,033 8 5 36 70 More S Dakota 987 7 6 34 84 More S Car 968 40 7 6 12 More N Car, E 872 29 8 4 5 More N Car, M 813 20 9 14 10 More Ind, N 789 17 10 30 23 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) — with 4588 prosecutions as compared with 304.9 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during February 2018.
The District of Alaska ranked 2nd.
Eastern District of Oklahoma (Muskogee) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Western District of Tennessee (Memphis), now ranked 1st , and Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro) at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 11th and 14th one year ago and 13th and 10th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 233.3 percent — was Alaska . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 227.8 percent — was Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 13.5 percent — was South Dakota . But over the past five years, Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro) showed the largest drop — 23.6 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 February 2018 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Lipman, Sheryl Halle Tenn, W 39 1 15 - More Fowlkes, John Thomas, Jr. Tenn, W 18 2 9 41 More Cogburn, Max Oliver, Jr. N Car, W 15 3 25 33 More Stearns, Richard Gaylore Mass 12 4 - 527 More Marquez, Rosemary Arizona 9 5 284 - More White, Ronald A. Okla, E 8 6 120 148 More Garcia-Gregory, Jay A. Puer Rico 8 6 15 3 More Mazzant, Amos L. Texas, E 8 6 15 - More Cummings, Samuel Ray Texas, N 8 6 29 97 More Rainey, John David Texas, S 8 6 14 58 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 8 6 120 20 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 4 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 7 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Sheryl Halle Lipman in the Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 1st with 39 defendants in cases.
Judge John Thomas Fowlkes, Jr. in the Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd with 18 defendants in cases. Judge Fowlkes also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 9).
Judge Max Oliver Cogburn, Jr. in the Western District of North Carolina (Asheville) ranked 3rd with 15 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: March 26, 2018
