Prosecutions for December 2017
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during December 2017 the government reported 9670 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 3.2 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 (9.2%). 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 25 percent from levels reported in 2012.
The dip 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 decrease in prosecutions is 14.5 percent instead of 25 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 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 December 2017 was for "Immigration", accounting for 50.2 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (12.8%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (9.6%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (6.7%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (4%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.5%), "Assimilated Crimes" (2.4%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in December 2017 was DHS accounting for 57 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (10% ), DEA (10%), ATF (8%), Defense (3%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In December 2017, 5485 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 42.8 percent of all magistrate filings in December.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (26.3%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In December 2017, 4185 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during December there were an additional 1912 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 2017.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,533 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 807 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 600 3 4 4 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 360 4 3 3 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 251 5 5 5 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 170 6 6 6 More 08 USC 1325 - Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. 82 7 27 23 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 80 8 7 7 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 76 9 9 11 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 72 10 8 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 4 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 201.4 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 that involves " Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc. ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 132.8 % — 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 3.6 percent — was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 27 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Material involving sexual exploitation of minors " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2252 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In December 2017 the Justice Department said the government brought 2264.2 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 Cal, S 17,184 501 1 5 3 More N Mexico 16,838 292 2 4 5 More Texas, W 10,910 645 3 2 2 More Texas, S 5,744 460 4 1 1 More Arizona 5,298 306 5 3 4 More W Virg, N 5,295 41 6 65 75 More D. C. 4,580 26 7 56 59 More Mo, E 4,504 110 8 14 39 More Tenn, W 4,435 58 9 48 41 More Texas, E 4,350 142 10 20 17 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Southern District of California (San Diego) — with 17184 prosecutions as compared with 2264.2 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during December 2017. The Southern District of California (San Diego) was ranked 5 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 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
Western District of Texas (San Antonio) is now ranking 3rd. The Western District of Texas (San Antonio) was ranked 2 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 8th , and Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 14th and 20th one year ago and 39th and 17th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 116.8 percent — was Western District of Tennessee (Memphis). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 57.2 percent — was Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 26 percent — was Washington, D.C. (Washington). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 37.3 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 2017 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 175 1 1 2 More Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 102 2 4 3 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 101 3 2 1 More Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 95 4 3 - More Crane, Randy Texas, S 72 5 6 5 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 64 6 5 4 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 60 7 10 6 More Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 60 7 14 11 More Mazzant, Amos L. Texas, E 54 9 82 - More Cerezo, Carmen Consuelo Puer Rico 51 10 63 53 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 9 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 1 judges were from other districts.
Judge Alia M. Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 175 defendants in cases. Judge Moses appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 2).
Judge Robert A. Junell in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 102 defendants in cases. Judge Junell appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 4) and five years ago (rank 3).
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 3rd with 101 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 2) and five years ago (rank 1).
Report Generated: January 24, 2018
