Civil Rights Prosecutions for June 2013
Table 1: Criminal Civil Rights Prosecutions
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during June 2013 the government reported 25 new civil rights prosecutions.
According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 8.7% over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged with civil rights-related offenses 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 2013 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in
the previous year, the number of filings was up (48.9 percent).
Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago.
Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 63.4 percent from levels reported in 2008.
The substantial growth 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 increase in
civil rights prosecutions is 49.3 percent instead of 63.4 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.
Figure 1: Monthly trends in civil rights prosecutions
The increase from the levels five years ago in civil rights prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1.
The vertical bars in Figure 1
represent the number of civil rights 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.
Within the broad category of civil rights, cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
Case types within civil rights are
Civil Rights - Other
Civil Rights - Law Enforcement
Civil Rights - Slavery/Involuntary Servitude
Civil Rights - Racial Violence, Including Hate Crimes
Civil Rights - Access to Clinic Entrances
Civil Rights - Hate Crimes Arising Out of Terrorist Attacks on the US
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in June 2013 was for "Civil Rights-Slavery/Invol. Servitude", accounting for 72 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Civil Rights-Other" (16%), "
Civil Rights-Hate Crimes from Terrorism" (4%), "Civil Rights-Law Enforcement" (4%), "Civil Rights-Racial Violence" (4%).
See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for civil rights prosecutions in June 2013
was FBI accounting for 96 percent of prosecutions referred.
Other agencies with substantial numbers of civil rights referrals were:
DEA (4% ).
See Figure 3.
Figure 2: Specific types of prosecutions
Figure 3: Prosecutions by investigative agency
Civil Rights Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In June 2013, 5 defendants
in civil rights 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 18 U.S.C Section 241 involving the "Conspiracy against rights". This was the lead charge
for 80 percent of all magistrate filings in June.
Civil Rights Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In June 2013, 20 defendants in new cases
for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during June there
were an additional 2 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 civil rights matters
filed in U.S. District Court during June 2013.
Table 2: Top charges filed
"Laundering of monetary instruments" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Sex trafficking of children by force, fraud or coercion" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1591.
Ranked 3rd was "Hate crime acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 249.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In June 2013 the Justice Department said the government brought 8.6 civil rights prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of civil rights 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.
Table 3: Top 10 districts
The Eastern District of Texas (Tyler)—with 11 prosecutions—was the most active during June 2013.
The Middle District of Florida (Tampa), Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta), District of Oregon and Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd.
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 civil rights crime cases of this type during June 2013 are shown in Table 4.
All 10 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of civil rights filings .
Judge Richard A. Schell in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) ranked 1st with 11 defendants in civil rights cases.
Judges Michael Howard Simon in the District of Oregon and Samuel H. Mays, Jr. in the Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd with 2 defendants in civil rights cases.
Report Generated: August 20, 2013