Prosecutions for October 2024
Referring Agency: Social Security Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during October 2024 the government reported 23 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Social Security Administration. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 14.8 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 2024 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (9.7%). 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 40.2 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 "Fraud-Federal Program", accounting for 65.2 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Theft-Government Property" (17.4%), "Corruption(Govt Off)-Other" (4.3%), "Fraud-Identity Theft-Aggravated" (4.3%), "Fraud-Other" (4.3%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (4.3%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In October 2024, 1 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 201 involving "Bribery of public officials and witnesses". This was the lead charge for 100 percent of all magistrate filings in October.
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In October 2024, 22 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during October there were an additional 0 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 Social Security Administration.
"Public money, property or records" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 641) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Fraudulent acts; penalties; restitution" under Title 42 U.S.C Section 1383.
Ranked 3rd was "Fed Old Age, Survivors & Disab Insur -Penalties" under Title 42 U.S.C Section 408.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In October 2024 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 7.9 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the 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 of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
The Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) — with 5 prosecutions — was the most active during October 2024.
The District of Massachusetts ranked 2nd.
Western District of Arkansas (Fort Smith), Southern District of California (San Diego) and District of New Jersey are now ranking 3rd.
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 Autrey, Henry Edward Mo, E 3 1 More Clark, Stephen Robert, Sr. Mo, E 2 2 More Houston, John A. Cal, S 1 3 More Wang, Nina Y. Colorado 1 3 More Bucklo, Elaine E. Ill, N 1 3 More Saris, Patti B. Mass 1 3 More Saylor, F. Dennis, IV Mass 1 3 More Boal, Jennifer C. Mass 1 3 More Martinotti, Brian R. N. J. 1 3 More Savage, Timothy J. Penn, E 1 3 More Baxter, Susan Paradise Penn, W 1 3 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. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Henry Edward Autrey in the Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) ranked 1st with 3 defendants in cases.
Judge Stephen Robert Clark, Sr. in the Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) ranked 2nd with 2 defendants in cases.
Judges John A. Houston in the Southern District of California (San Diego), Nina Y. Wang in the District of Colorado, Elaine E. Bucklo in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago), Patti B. Saris in the District of Massachusetts, F. Dennis Saylor, IV in the District of Massachusetts, Jennifer C. Boal in the District of Massachusetts, Brian R. Martinotti in the District of New Jersey, Timothy J. Savage in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) and Susan Paradise Baxter in the Western Distr ranked 3rd with 1 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: December 17, 2024
