Prosecutions for November 2017
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during November 2017 the government reported 962 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 13.2 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 (4.4%). 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 16 percent from levels reported in 2012.
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 November 2017 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 52.1 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (26.7%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (16.9%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In November 2017, 237 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 21 U.S.C Section 841 involving "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A". This was the lead charge for 48.9 percent of all magistrate filings in November.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (29.5%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In November 2017, 725 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during November there were an additional 169 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 Drug Enforcement Administration.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 365 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 222 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 25 3 3 3 More 46 USC 70503 - Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US 12 4 4 8 More 46 USC 70506 - Penalties 10 5 5 10 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 5 6 6 5 More 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 4 7 22 24 More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 4 7 10 4 More 18 USC 1952 - Racketeering -interstate/foreign travel/transport 3 9 26 24 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 2 10 14 9 More 18 USC 2118 - Robberies/burglaries w/controlled substances 2 10 17 28 More 21 USC 844 - Penalty for simple possession 2 10 18 16 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (Title 21 U.S.C Section 841) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (Title 21 U.S.C Section 841) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846. "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 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 200 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1952 that involves " Racketeering -interstate/foreign travel/transport ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 250 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Robberies/burglaries w/controlled substances " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2118 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 36.4 percent — was " Hobbs Act " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1951 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 53.3 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In November 2017 the Justice Department said the government brought 332 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 Ark, E 4,610 63 1 31 18 More Ken, E 1,471 27 2 25 22 More Texas, W 1,218 72 3 1 2 More N Dakota 1,108 7 4 35 66 More Mo, W 1,100 29 5 16 39 More Ala, M 1,043 10 6 54 75 More R. I. 1,022 9 7 90 80 More Mich, W 963 28 8 80 37 More Vermont 961 5 9 50 73 More Mo, E 942 23 10 14 51 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) — with 4610 prosecutions as compared with 332 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during November 2017.
The Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington) ranked 2nd.
Western District of Texas (San Antonio) is now ranking 3rd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis), now ranked 10th , and Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) at 5th In the same order, these districts ranked 14th and 16th one year ago and 51st and 39th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 466.7 percent — was Rhode Island . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 82.7 percent — was Western District of Missouri (Kansas City).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 41.2 percent — was Vermont . But over the past five years, Western District of Michigan (Grand Rapids) showed the largest drop — 22.6 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 November 2017 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Holmes, J[ames] Leon Ark, E 32 1 306 277 More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 30 2 1 2 More Marshall, Denzil Price, Jr. Ark, E 26 3 127 11 More Jonker, Robert James Mich, W 26 3 352 243 More Bunning, David L. Ken, E 18 5 170 112 More Cummings, Samuel Ray Texas, N 15 6 94 277 More Young, Richard L. Ind, S 14 7 17 136 More Simpson, Charles Ralph, III Ken, W 13 8 527 - More Mendoza, Carlos Eduardo Fla, M 11 9 352 - More Salinas, Catherine M. Ga, N 11 9 - - More Wimes, Brian Curtis Mo, W 11 9 147 580 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 6 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 5 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge J[ames] Leon Holmes in the Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) ranked 1st with 32 defendants in cases.
Judge Robert A. Junell in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 30 defendants in cases. Judge Junell appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 2).
Judges Denzil Price Marshall, Jr. in the Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) and Robert James Jonker in the Western District of Michigan (Grand Rapids) ranked 3rd with 26 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: January 8, 2018
