Prosecutions for November 2017
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during November 2017 the government reported 727 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 6.6 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 2017 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (15.4%). 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 6.6 percent from levels reported in 2012.
The leveling out 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 1.9 percent instead of 6.6 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 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 November 2017 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 58.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (16.6%), "Violence-Other" (11.6%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (9.6%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In November 2017, 108 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 November the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 58.3 percent of all magistrate filings in November.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (11.1%), "18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties" (6.5%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In November 2017, 619 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during November there were an additional 86 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 November.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during November 2017 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 393 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 52 2 2 2 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 36 3 5 5 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 32 4 4 4 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 28 5 3 3 More 18 USC 1962 - RICO - prohibited activities 13 6 8 25 More 18 USC 844 - Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives 6 7 10 8 More 18 USC 1851 - Public lands - Coal depredations 5 9 - - More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 5 9 6 6 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 "Hobbs Act" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1951. "Hobbs Act" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1951 was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 485.7 percent — compared to one year ago was Title U.S.C Section that involves "Other US Code Section ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 1550 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " RICO - prohibited activities " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1962 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 15.7 percent — was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 35.1 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Firearms; Penalties " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 924 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In November 2017 the Justice Department said the government brought 261.8 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 1,682 22 1 13 19 More Alaska 1,334 8 2 54 71 More N Dakota 1,267 8 3 69 82 More Ala, S 1,137 8 4 36 44 More S Dakota 987 7 5 29 86 More Miss, S 769 12 6 68 44 More Texas, N 762 46 7 7 5 More Mo, W 759 20 8 10 7 More Ala, M 730 7 9 62 66 More N Car, E 692 23 10 3 4 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) — with 1682 prosecutions as compared with 261.8 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during November 2017.
The District of Alaska ranked 2nd.
District of North Dakota is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Western District of Tennessee (Memphis), now ranked 1st , and South Dakota at 5th In the same order, these districts ranked 13th and 29th one year ago and 19th and 86th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 164.7 percent — was Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 175 percent — was South Dakota .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 54.2 percent — was South Dakota . But over the past five years, Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) showed the largest drop — 37.1 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 November 2017 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank O'Connor, Reed Charles Texas, N 16 1 More Lynn, Barbara M. Texas, N 14 2 More Drain, Gershwin Allen Mich, E 13 3 More Kelly, Robert F. Penn, E 10 4 More Fowlkes, John Thomas, Jr. Tenn, W 9 5 More Hovland, Daniel L. N Dakota 8 6 More Rambo, Sylvia H. Penn, M 8 6 More Perez-Gimenez, Juan Manuel Puer Rico 8 6 More Gelpi, Gustavo Antonio, Jr. Puer Rico 8 6 More Anderson, Stanley Thomas Tenn, W 7 10 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 7 10 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 5 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 6 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Reed Charles O'Connor in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) ranked 1st with 16 defendants in cases.
Judge Barbara M. Lynn in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) ranked 2nd with 14 defendants in cases.
Judge Gershwin Allen Drain in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit) ranked 3rd with 13 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: January 8, 2018
