Prosecutions for February 2017
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2017 the government reported 9265 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 2.5 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 down (-11.8%). 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 24.6 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 February 2017 was for "Immigration", accounting for 46.4 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (14.3%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (10.4%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (6.9%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.3%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (2.8%), "Assimilated Crimes" (2.5%). See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in February 2017 was DHS accounting for 55 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (11% ), DEA (9%), ATF (8%), Defense (3%). See Figure 3.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2017, 5413 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 8 U.S.C Section 1325 involving "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.". This was the lead charge for 33.7 percent of all magistrate filings in February.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (30.1%), "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (8%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2017, 3852 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February there were an additional 1757 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 2017.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,332 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 654 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 574 3 4 4 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 478 4 3 3 More 08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 227 5 5 5 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 98 6 7 6 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 77 7 6 7 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 71 8 9 11 More 18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 55 9 11 12 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 50 10 12 8 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 23.8 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1324 that involves " Bringing in and harboring certain aliens ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 32.3 % — 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 18 percent — was " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 43.7 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2017 the Justice Department said the government brought 2094.1 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 16,460 286 1 3 5 More Cal, S 11,898 345 2 5 3 More Texas, W 7,359 428 3 2 1 More S Dakota 7,108 50 4 35 43 More Arizona 6,116 348 5 4 2 More Texas, S 5,988 473 6 1 4 More La, M 5,346 37 7 83 85 More N Dakota 4,915 31 8 46 64 More Miss, S 3,906 61 9 79 62 More Ala, S 3,702 26 10 60 50 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of New Mexico — with 16460 prosecutions as compared with 2094.1 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during February 2017. The District of New Mexico was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 2nd. 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.
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 1 for most frequent use five years ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were South Dakota , now ranked 4th , and North Dakota at 8th In the same order, these districts ranked 35th and 46th one year ago and 43rd and 64th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 111.2 percent — was Southern District of Mississippi (Jackson). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 31.4 percent — was New Mexico .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 28.2 percent — was North Dakota . But over the past five years, Southern District of California (San Diego) showed the largest drop — 45.8 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 2017 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 103 1 3 - More Moses, Alia M. Texas, W 96 2 1 1 More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 74 3 2 3 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 58 4 6 4 More Hinojosa, Ricardo H. Texas, S 55 5 7 5 More Alvarez, Micaela Texas, S 53 6 8 7 More Burns, Larry Alan Cal, S 48 7 52 20 More Saldana, Diana Texas, S 46 8 12 31 More Olvera, Jose Rolando, Jr. Texas, S 46 8 4 - More Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 41 10 5 21 More Briones, David Texas, W 41 10 17 5 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
All 11 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capit. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Kenneth John Gonzales in the District of New Mexico ranked 1st with 103 defendants in cases. Judge Gonzales also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 3).
Judge Alia M. Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 96 defendants in cases. Judge Moses appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 1).
Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 3rd with 74 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 2) and five years ago (rank 3).
Report Generated: March 20, 2017
