Prosecutions for June 2014

Number Latest Month 12,671
Percent Change from previous month -3.7
Percent Change from 1 year ago -16.1
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Including Magistrate Court) -11.8
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Excluding Magistrate Court) -23.9
Table 1. Criminal Prosecutions

The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during June 2014 the government reported 12671 new prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 3.7 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 down (-16.1%). 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 11.8 percent from levels reported in 2009.

Bar and line plot of FYMON

Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions

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 June 2014 was for "Immigration", accounting for 55.1 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (9.2%), " Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (8.1%), "Assimilated Crimes" (4%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (3.9%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.8%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.2%). See Figure 2.

The lead investigative agency for prosecutions in June 2014 was DHS accounting for 63 percent of prosecutions referred. Other agencies with substantial numbers of referrals were: FBI (9% ), DEA (6%), ATF (4%), Defense (4%). See Figure 3.

Pie chart of progcatlabel

Figure 2. Specific Types of Prosecutions
Pie chart of agenrevgrp

Figure 3. Prosecutions by Investigative Agency

Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts

Top Ranked Lead Charges

In June 2014, 8092 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 June 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 45.3 percent of all magistrate filings in June.

Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (27.7%).

Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts

In June 2014, 4579 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during June there were an additional 1829 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 June.

Top Ranked Lead Charges

Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during June 2014.

Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago  
08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 1,588 1 1 1 More
21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 798 2 2 2 More
21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 465 3 3 3 More
18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 437 4 4 4 More
08 USC 1324 - Bringing in and harboring certain aliens 221 5 5 5 More
18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 132 6 12 16 More
18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 108 7 7 9 More
18 USC 641 - Public money, property or records 107 8 8 13 More
21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 92 9 6 6 More
18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 73 10 10 11 More
18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 73 10 11 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 "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 18.6 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 that involves " Fraud by wire, radio, or television ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 56.8 % — 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 32.3 percent — was " Importation of controlled substances " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 40.9 % — when compared with five years ago.

Top Ranked Judicial Districts

In June 2014 the Justice Department said the government brought 2449.6 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 23,591 410 1 4 5 More
Cal, S 14,776 413 2 3 3 More
Texas, W 11,416 627 3 1 1 More
Ga, S 10,292 132 4 52 41 More
Ala, S 9,635 67 5 61 62 More
Arizona 7,141 390 6 5 4 More
Vermont 7,093 37 7 83 87 More
N Dakota 6,861 40 8 47 77 More
Texas, S 6,332 470 9 2 2 More
S Dakota 5,184 36 10 30 50 More
Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)

  • The District of New Mexico — with 23591 prosecutions as compared with 2449.6 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during June 2014. The District of New Mexico was ranked 4 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 3 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 1 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 10th , and North Dakota at 8th In the same order, these districts ranked 30th and 47th one year ago and 50th and 77th five years ago.

The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 35.1 percent — was Arizona . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 60.6 percent — was North Dakota .

In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 26.8 percent — was South Dakota .  But over the past five years, Southern District of California (San Diego) showed the largest drop — 25.9 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 June 2014 are shown in Table 4.

Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago  
Gonzales, Kenneth John N Mexico 166 1 - - More
Moses, Alia Texas, W 152 2 3 - More
Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 143 3 1 2 More
Smith, G. R. Ga, S 123 4 42 27 More
Junell, Robert A. Texas, W 117 5 2 10 More
Hanen, Andrew S. Texas, S 85 6 4 12 More
Garcia-Gregory, Jay A. Puer Rico 74 7 49 118 More
Crane, Randy Texas, S 57 8 6 9 More
Cardone, Kathleen Texas, W 56 9 14 7 More
Guaderrama, David C. Texas, W 53 10 15 - 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 Kenneth John Gonzales in the District of New Mexico ranked 1st with 166 defendants in cases.

  • Judge Alia Moses in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 2nd with 152 defendants in cases. Judge Moses also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 3).

  • Judge Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 3rd with 143 defendants in cases. Judge Brack appeared in the top ten rankings one year (ranked 1) and five years ago (rank 2).

Report Generated: September 16, 2014
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