Prosecutions for December 2014
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2014 the government reported 10986 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 9.8 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 2014 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was only slightly up (1.7%). 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 7.4 percent from levels reported in 2009.
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 December 2014 was for "Immigration", accounting for 55.6 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (11.2%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (8.1%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (4.2%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.8%), "Assimilated Crimes" (2.4%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.3%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in December 2014 was DHS accounting for 63 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (9% ), DEA (7%), ATF (4%), Defense (2%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In December 2014, 6825 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 "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.". This was the lead charge for 40.1 percent of all magistrate filings in December.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (32.8%), "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (5.5%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In December 2014, 4161 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during December there were an additional 1918 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 2014.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,697 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 588 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 428 3 3 3 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 399 4 4 4 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 224 5 5 5 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 130 6 6 7 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 97 7 7 8 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 84 8 8 13 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 67 9 9 15 More 18 USC 1962 - RICO - prohibited activities 65 10 28 25 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 66.1 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1962 that involves " RICO - prohibited activities ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 24.3 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Fraud by wire, radio, or television " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 26.1 percent — was " Importation of controlled substances " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 36.5 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In December 2014 the Justice Department said the government brought 2324.1 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 N Mexico 20,331 353 1 5 5 More Arizona 13,372 730 2 4 3 More Cal, S 11,954 334 3 3 4 More N Dakota 9,410 55 4 48 64 More Texas, W 9,390 516 5 2 2 More Texas, S 6,941 515 6 1 1 More Wash, E 5,897 75 7 41 48 More S Dakota 5,467 38 8 37 58 More Tenn, W 4,780 63 9 42 23 More D. C. 3,978 21 10 51 43 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of New Mexico — with 20331 prosecutions as compared with 2324.1 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during December 2014. The District of New Mexico was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
The District of Arizona ranked 2nd. The District of Arizona was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 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 4 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were South Dakota , now ranked 8th , and Eastern District of Washington (Spokane) at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 37th and 41st one year ago and 58th and 48th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 9.4 percent — was North Dakota . This was the same district that had the largest increase — 17.2 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 54.1 percent — was Washington, D.C. (Washington). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 64.9 percent — when compared with five years ago.
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 2014 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia Texas, W 122 1 2 - More Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 120 2 4 - More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 118 3 1 1 More Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 85 4 5 13 More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 79 5 3 7 More Snow, G. Murray Arizona 64 6 22 52 More Bolton, Susan Ritchie Arizona 57 7 28 48 More Ramos, Nelva Gonzales Texas, S 57 7 6 - More Wake, Neil Vincent Arizona 56 9 18 63 More Campbell, David G. Arizona 54 10 31 78 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 10 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capit.
Judge Alia Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 122 defendants in cases. Judge Moses also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 2).
Judge Kenneth John Gonzales in the District of New Mexico ranked 2nd with 120 defendants in cases. Judge Gonzales also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 4).
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 3rd with 118 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 1).
Report Generated: February 16, 2015
