Civil Rights Convictions for July 2013
Table 1: Criminal Civil Rights Convictions
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2013 the government reported 22 new civil rights convictions.
According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 69.2% over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants convicted for 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 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in
the previous year, the number of convictions was up (52.2 percent).
Convictions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago.
Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are up 4.1 percent from levels reported in 2008.
Figure 1: Monthly trends in civil rights convictions
The leveling out from the levels five years ago in civil rights convictions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1.
The vertical bars in Figure 1
represent the number of civil rights convictions 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 convictions of these matters in July 2013 was for "Civil Rights-Slavery/Invol. Servitude", accounting for 54.5 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Civil Rights-Racial Violence" (22.7%), "
Civil Rights-Other" (18.2%), "Civil Rights-Law Enforcement" (4.5%).
See Figure 2.
The lead investigative agency for civil rights convictions in July 2013
was FBI accounting for 68 percent of convictions.
Other agencies with substantial numbers of civil rights convictions were:
DHS (9% ).
See Figure 3.
Figure 2: Specific types of convictions
Figure 3: Convictions by investigative agency
Civil Rights Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In July 2013, 1 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 July the most frequently cited lead charge was
Title 8 U.S.C Section 1325 involving the "Entry of alien at improper time or place; etc.". This was the lead charge
for 100 percent of all magistrate convictions in July.
Civil Rights Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In July 2013, 21 defendants in new cases
for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July 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 July.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of civil rights matters
filed in U.S. District Court during July 2013.
Table 2: Top charges for convictions
"Enticement into slavery" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1583) was the most frequent recorded lead charge.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Transportation for illegal sexual activity and related crimes" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 2421.
Ranked 3rd was "Hate crime acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 249.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In July 2013 the Justice Department said the government obtained 8.2 civil rights convictions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the number of civil rights convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the
largest number of convictions of this type last month are shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Top 10 districts
The Southern District of Texas (Houston)—with 6 convictions—was the most active during July 2013.
The Southern District of Georgia (Savannah) ranked 2nd.
Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington) is 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 civil rights crime cases resulting in convictions of this type
during July 2013 are shown in Table 4.
All 9 of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of civil rights convictions .
Judge Lynn Nettleton Hughes in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 6 convicted in civil rights convictions.
Judge Berry Avant Edenfield in the Southern District of Georgia (Savannah) ranked 2nd with 5 convicted in civil rights convictions.
Judge Gregory Frederick Van Tatenhove in the Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington) ranked 3rd with 4 convicted in civil rights convictions.
Report Generated: September 23, 2013