Prosecutions for October 2024
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2024 the government reported 681 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 0.7 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 2024 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (2.2%). 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 26.3 percent from levels reported in 2019.
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 October 2024 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 54.5 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (23.2%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (9.5%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (7.6%), "Violence-Other" (2.3%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In October 2024, 83 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 October the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 57.8 percent of all magistrate filings in October.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (12%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In October 2024, 598 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during October there were an additional 77 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 October.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during October 2024 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 328 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 67 2 2 2 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 21 4 5 5 More 18 USC 1962 - RICO - prohibited activities 17 5 29 13 More 21 USC 848 - Continuing criminal enterprise 14 6 - - More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 13 7 3 3 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 10 8 7 7 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 5 9 6 4 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 5 9 8 8 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) 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 "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section. "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 6 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 3000 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1962 that involves " RICO - prohibited activities ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 210 % — 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 25.8 percent — was " Firearms; Penalties " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 924 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 69.5 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In October 2024 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 241.9 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 W Virg, N 1,425 11 1 29 29 More Ga, S 1,302 18 2 40 16 More Wash, E 1,126 16 3 70 54 More S Dakota 1,060 8 4 54 58 More N Car, M 1,027 27 5 18 3 More Ala, S 966 7 6 26 56 More N Dakota 918 6 7 49 87 More Miss, N 880 8 8 70 64 More N Car, E 851 30 9 1 6 More Okla, E 805 5 10 49 85 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) — with 1425 prosecutions as compared with 241.9 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during October 2024.
The Southern District of Georgia (Savannah) ranked 2nd.
Eastern District of Washington (Spokane) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro), now ranked 5th , and Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) at 6th In the same order, these districts ranked 18th and 26th one year ago and 3rd and 56th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 73.7 percent — was Eastern District of Washington (Spokane). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 387.5 percent — was Eastern District of Oklahoma (Muskogee).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 29 percent — was North Dakota . But over the past five years, Southern District of Georgia (Savannah) showed the largest drop — 51 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 October 2024 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Horan, Marilyn Jean Penn, W 19 1 More Domenico, Daniel Desmond Colorado 7 2 More Murphy, Stephen Joseph, III Mich, E 5 3 More Brown, Debra Marie Miss, N 5 3 More Marbley, Algenon L. Ohio, S 5 3 More Moon, Norman K. Virg, W 5 3 More Rodgers, Margaret Catharine Fla, N 4 7 More Shadid, James Edward Ill, C 4 7 More Wier, Robert Earl Ken, E 4 7 More Hovland, Daniel L. N Dakota 4 7 More Geraci, Frank Paul, Jr. N. Y., W 4 7 More Wolford, Elizabeth Ann N. Y., W 4 7 More White, Ronald A. Okla, E 4 7 More Lipman, Sheryl Halle Tenn, W 4 7 More Priest Johnson, Kimberly C. Texas, E 4 7 More Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 4 7 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 3 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 13 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 16 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Marilyn Jean Horan in the Western District of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh) ranked 1st with 19 defendants in cases.
Judge Daniel Desmond Domenico in the District of Colorado ranked 2nd with 7 defendants in cases.
Judges Stephen Joseph Murphy, III in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit), Debra Marie Brown in the Northern District of Mississippi (Oxford), Algenon L. Marbley in the Southern District of Ohio (Cincinnati) and Norman K. Moon in the Western District of Virginia (Roanoke) ranked 3rd with 5 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: December 17, 2024
