Abstract

From 1989 to 1998, the number of firearms cases filed in the U.S. district courts increased 61 percent, from 2,256 to 3,641, compared to 25 percent for overall criminal cases filed. The higher level of case filings has been compounded by factors such as an increase in the average number of defendants per case filed. Together, the growth in the number and complexity of firearms cases has resulted in a greater level of judicial resources devoted to these cases.
 
  Introduction

Between 1989 and 1998, the number of firearms cases⁽¹⁾ filed in the U.S. district courts increased 61 percent, compared to 25 percent for criminal filings overall, and by 1998 trailed only drugs, fraud, and immigration with regard to the number of felony cases filed.⁽²⁾ The 61 percent increase in firearms filings was nearly twice as great as the 32 percent rise in drug cases filed over the same period of time, and for those offenses which constituted a significant proportion of the cases filed in the district courts,⁽³⁾ only immigration cases increased at a faster rate. Unlike some other offenses, such as immigration filings which are concentrated in the districts along the southwest border, firearms cases are a significant proportion of the criminal caseload in districts throughout the country. In most years, no single district constitutes more than 5 percent of the national firearms caseload.

In the federal system, firearms cases often involve defendants charged with violating statutes concerning the possession, licensing, sales, importation, manufacture, or similar activities involving firearms, rather than the use of a firearm while committing a criminal act. The most noteworthy exception, however, is Section 924(c) of Title 18, which results in lengthy prison sentences for persons convicted of using or carrying a firearm while committing a crime of violence or a drug trafficking crime. In fact, during 1998, more firearms cases involved this statute than any other.

This paper describes the overall trend in firearms filings during the last 10 years, and attempts to explain the reasons behind this trend. In addition, the paper examines the impact that firearms filings have on the workload of the district courts beyond the overall number of cases filed each year. Reviewing the ten-year trends for factors such as the average number of defendants per case filed, the median time between filing and disposition, the number of convicted firearms defendants sentenced to prison rather than probation, and the proportion of defendants going to trial rather than pleading guilty provides a more in-depth view of the growing impact firearms cases have had on the workload of the courts between 1989 and 1998.
 
 Method

The statistics in this paper were produced using data on criminal cases which the U.S. district courts provide to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO).⁽⁴⁾ The criminal data provided to the AO contain up to five charges for each defendant. For filings with multiple charges, the lead charge in the filing is determined by identifying which of the offenses carries the greatest potential sentence. At the closing stage, the lead charge is based on the disposition of the case (conviction vs. acquittal) and the length of sentence associated with convictions. Therefore, it is possible that a case could be counted as a firearms case at filing and an alternative offense at closing, depending on the outcome of the case. In this paper, the filings totals include all cases in which a firearms offense has been identified as the lead charge at the time of filing, or the lead charge at the time the case is terminated.
 
  Trends in Firearms Filings

From 1989 to 1998, the number of firearms cases filed in the U.S. district courts increased 61 percent from 2,256 to 3,641. The trend in firearms filings during these ten years can be divided into two distinct parts. Firearms filings rose sharply between 1989 and 1991, growing 23 percent in 1990, followed by an additional 38 percent rise in 1991. After 1991, firearms filings fluctuated within a range of 3,000 to 4,000 cases filed each year. (See Figure 1.) There were several factors underlying the fluctuations in firearms filings from 1991 to 1998, including Department of Justice policy decisions, legislation, and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on firearms statutes.
 
 1989 - 1991

Firearms cases rose sharply between 1989 and 1991, and the primary reason for such a dramatic rise in filings was likely the passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988.⁽⁵⁾ Although, as the title implies, the Act dealt primarily with the prosecution of drug law violations, one of the provisions of the Act significantly enhanced the penalties for using certain firearms in connection with a crime of violence or drug trafficking. Following the passage of the Act, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) added 244 agents, and by 1990, the Department of Justice (DOJ) had hired more than 600 additional prosecutors.⁽⁶⁾ With these additional investigative and prosecutorial resources in place, the number of firearms cases filed rose 71 percent in just two years. The district courts had not experienced an increase in firearms filings of that magnitude since the early 1970s, when the number of cases filed tripled following the passage of the 1968 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act⁽⁷⁾ and the 1970 Crime Control Act.⁽⁸⁾

The implementation of Project Triggerlock in April 1991,⁽⁹⁾ an effort by DOJ to use federal firearms statutes to target the most dangerous violent criminals,⁽¹⁰⁾ ensured that firearms filings would remain at elevated levels. The United States Attorneys' Statistical Report for Fiscal Year 1991 noted that many defendants who previously would have been prosecuted at the state or local level were prosecuted in federal court to ensure that violent offenders received the maximum sentences available.⁽¹¹⁾ With the implementation of Triggerlock, DOJ now had a national policy initiative in combination with additional investigative and prosecutorial resources. In this environment, firearms filings would not likely recede to pre-1989 levels.
 
 1992 - 1998

Unlike the dramatic increases which occurred from 1989 to 1991, between 1992 and 1998 the number of firearms cases filed fluctuated within a range of 3,000 - 4,000 filings per year. There were a variety of factors that influenced the number of firearms filings during this time, some of which caused firearms filings to rise in some years and others of which caused declines. The impact of the additional ATF agents and prosecutors and Project Triggerlock were still being felt in 1992 as firearms filings peaked at 3,917, although this total was only 2 percent higher than the number of cases filed in 1991.

The rising trend in firearms cases ended in 1993 as filings fell 7 percent, compared to a 3 percent decline for overall criminal filings. The decline continued in 1994 as firearms cases dropped 14 percent to 3,112, and overall criminal filings fell 3 percent. The decreases in both years likely resulted in large part from a hiring freeze implemented by DOJ during 1993 and 1994 on federal prosecutors as well as for agents in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs Service, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. With fewer resources available to investigate and prosecute potential criminal activity, firearms cases, and nearly all other types of felony offenses, declined during this two-year period.

The decline in firearms cases was reversed in 1995, as filings increased 16 percent to 3,621, a significantly higher rate than the one percent rise in overall criminal filings. The lifting of the hiring freeze at the end of 1994, new initiatives from DOJ, and legislative changes were likely the most important factors in this rise in firearms cases. With the hiring freeze ended, the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and investigative agencies were once again able to hire additional staff to investigate and prosecute crimes. In addition, DOJ's Anti-Violent Crime Initiative, which began in March 1994, encouraged U.S. attorneys and other federal law enforcement officials to work with state and local law enforcement agencies to develop coordinated strategies for addressing the most serious violent crimes in their districts.⁽¹²⁾ As with Project Triggerlock, these activities enabled federal prosecutors to bring many cases into federal court where sentences are generally longer than those given in state courts. Finally, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994⁽¹³⁾ was enacted in September 1994. Among the provisions of the Act was an increase in the penalties for many violent crimes, including firearms offenses.

The 1995 increase was short-lived, however, as firearms cases fell 13 percent to 3,162 in 1996, and remained at that level the following year, rising 22 cases to 3,184 filings during 1997. Nationally, criminal cases filed rose 5 percent in both 1996 and 1997. The decline during 1996 may have resulted in part from the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Bailey v. United States⁽¹⁴⁾ in December 1995. In the Bailey opinion, the Supreme Court decided that enhanced penalties for using a firearm during a drug trafficking offense or crime of violence could not be applied unless a defendant actively used a firearm - and did not merely possess it - while committing the crime.⁽¹⁵⁾ The number of defendants charged with violating Section 924(c) of Title 18,⁽¹⁶⁾ the statute most directly affected by the Bailey opinion, dropped 13 percent in 1996, nearly one-half of the overall drop in firearms filings. Both the number of firearms filings overall and cases involving Section 924(c) remained stable in 1997.

In 1998, firearms filings rose 14 percent to 3,641, ending the two-year decline. The increase in filings was spread across most types of firearms offenses, and for the fourth consecutive year, Section 924(c) constituted approximately one-third of all firearms cases filed. The rise in firearms cases was representative of criminal filings throughout the district courts, as overall criminal cases filed increased 15 percent in 1998.
 
 The Workload Implications of Firearms Cases Filed: 1989 Through 1998

While the number of firearms filings remained within a range of 3,000 to 4,000 cases per year after increasing significantly between 1989 and 1991, the data suggest that the amount of court resources required to handle the firearms caseload increased significantly over the entire 1989 to 1998 period. The workload measures that directly support this conclusion are the average number of defendants per case filed, the median time from filing to disposition, and the number of dispositions resulting from jury trials. In addition to these indicators, the number and proportion of convicted firearms defendants sentenced to prison has increased, and the average prison sentence resulting from these convictions has also risen. The greater number of defendants sentenced to prison, as well as the longer prison sentences, while not directly affecting the federal courts, do show that firearms cases are consuming a greater level of overall federal criminal justice system resources, with particular impact upon the Bureau of Prisons.
 
  Defendants per Case Filed
An increase in the number of defendants per case is one factor that typically indicates growing case complexity, for the interrelationships among the defendants and their offenses introduce scheduling issues that lengthen the disposition time for defendants. From 1989 to 1998, firearms cases progressively began to involve more defendants, with the ratio of defendants per case filed rising from 1.11 in 1989 to 1.22 in 1998, surpassing the number of defendants per case for non-drug criminal offenses.⁽¹⁷⁾ (See Figure 2.) While an increase from 1.11 to 1.22 defendants per case over ten years does not initially appear to be a significant increase, even if firearms filings had not increased from the 2,256 cases filed in 1989, the increase in the number of defendants per case would have resulted in approximately 250 additional defendants filed.

The median time from filing to disposition for defendants charged with firearms offenses rose from 5.1 months in 1989 to 7.1 months during 1998, an increase of 39 percent. (See Figure 3.) The increase for firearms defendants was higher than the 23 percent rise for all defendants charged with felony offenses, which went from 5.2 months in 1989 to 6.4 in 1998.⁽¹⁸⁾ With the exception of an insignificant decline of 0.1 months in 1998, the median disposition time for firearms offenses increased every year, including those years when the number of filings declined.

Much of the increase in median times was the result of longer plea negotiations, as the median time from filing to disposition for firearms defendants pleading guilty rose from 4.9 months in 1989 to 7.0 in 1998. An increase in the length of firearms trials was also a significant factor. Between 1989 and 1998, the number of firearms defendants whose charges were resolved after jury trials rose 25 percent from 335 to 418, and the median time from filing to disposition for these defendants increased from 6.2 months to 9.4 months. More importantly, in terms of court resources, the average length of firearms trials increased 23 percent from 11 hours in 1995 to 13.5 hours in 1998.⁽¹⁹⁾ The growth in both the overall number and the length of jury trials for firearms defendants shows that firearms cases are consuming significantly more court resources to resolve.
 
  Jury Trials

The number of firearms defendants whose charges were resolved after jury trials rose 18 percent from 335 in 1989 to 395 in 1998. (See Figure 4.) The increase in firearms jury trials differs markedly from the 42 percent decline in jury trials for drug defendants, and the 38 percent decline in jury trials for all offenses.⁽²⁰⁾ The number of jury trials has a measurable impact on resources because defendants who have their cases resolved after a jury trial utilize significantly more court resources than those whose cases are resolved through either guilty pleas or from dismissals. As a result of these divergent trends, firearms defendants rose from 6 percent of those whose charges were resolved after jury trials in 1989 to 11 percent in 1998, even though they constituted just 5 percent of the defendants whose cases were closed, whether by trial, dismissal, or plea, in both 1989 and 1998.
 
  Prison Sentences

The number of convicted firearms defendants sentenced to prison, rather than directly to probation, nearly doubled from 1,497 in 1989 to 2,980 in 1998, far outpacing the 63 percent increase in overall firearms convictions and the 61 percent increase in firearms defendants filed. As a result, the proportion of firearms offenders sentenced to prison rose from 76 percent to 92 percent over the same ten-year period. For all crimes, the proportion of convicted defendants sentenced to prison rose from 58 percent in 1989 to 75 percent in 1998, due in large part to the creation of the federal Sentencing Guidelines. Under the provisions of the guidelines, many defendants were sentenced to prison that previously had been sentenced directly to probation.⁽²¹⁾
 

In addition to significant growth in both the number and proportion of firearms defendants sentenced to prison, the average prison sentence resulting from a conviction for a firearms offense doubled from 49.0 months in 1989 to 102.2 months in 1998, well above the average of 78 months in prison for conviction of a drug law violation.⁽²²⁾ (See Figure 5.)

Not only did the average sentence imposed after a firearms conviction double from 1989 to 1998, but an increasing number and proportion of firearms offenders received prison sentences of greater than 60 months. (See Figure 6.) In 1989, only 18 percent of defendants imprisoned for firearms crimes received sentences over 60 months. By 1998, that proportion had more than doubled to 47 percent, and even outpaced the 37 percent of drug offenders receiving such lengthy sentences. In 1989, 40 percent of drug offenders had been sentenced to more than 60 months in prison.

In comparison to 1989, a firearms case filed in 1998 was more likely to involve multiple defendants, more likely to take longer between filing and disposition of the case, more likely than other types of crimes to result in a jury trial, and more likely to result in a longer prison sentence for the defendant(s). When taken in combination, these factors indicate that firearms cases are now demanding a greater level of court resources to resolve, even beyond what would have been expected in light of the 61 percent increase in filings from 1989 to 1998. The workload-intensive nature of firearms offenses is confirmed in their case weight⁽²³⁾ of 1.69, among the highest of all federal crimes.⁽²⁴⁾ The case weights are designed to account for the different amounts of time required by judges to resolve various types of civil and criminal actions. The average civil case or criminal defendant would receive a weight of 1.0; cases which typically require more of a judge's time to close receive weights higher than 1.0; and those cases that demand less time receive weights below 1.0. The case weight of 1.69 for firearms defendants means that a judge will spend 70 percent more time on a firearms defendant than for the average civil case or felony defendant. This comparison is based on the average amount of time spent by judges on civil cases and criminal defendants combined rather than separate averages for civil and criminal.
 
 Conclusion

Firearms cases filed rose 61 percent between 1989 and 1998, with most of the increase occurring from 1989 to 1991, after which filings fluctuated within a range of 3,000 to 4,000 cases filed per year. Although this trend is important in evaluating the growing impact of firearms cases over the last 10 years, examining filings alone does not capture the entire impact these cases have had on the workload of the courts. The courts' workload is affected by the number and type of cases which the courts handle,⁽²⁵⁾ so measures other than filings are required to identify the full effect of firearms cases. These measures include the average number of defendants per case filed, the median time from filing to disposition, the number of defendants whose charges are disposed of via jury trials, and the number and proportion of defendants sentenced to prison, in lieu of probation. Each of these factors indicates that, from 1989 to 1998, the level of resources needed to resolve firearms cases, for the judiciary as well for the entire federal criminal justice system, has grown substantially. When taken as a whole, these workload measures indicate that firearms cases are significantly more complex than ten years ago.

The growing complexity of firearms cases over the last ten years becomes even more important in light of Congress' decision to earmark $7 million from the United States Attorneys' appropriation for FY 2000 to "continue and expand intensive firearms prosecution projects, to enforce Federal laws designed to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals, and to enhance existing law enforcement efforts."⁽²⁶⁾ Partly as a result of this action by Congress, U.S. Attorneys' Offices have been able to prosecute a greater number of firearms cases during the first few months of FY 2000. With the increased complexity of firearms cases,⁽²⁷⁾ the growth in firearms filings will have a significant impact on the workload of the district courts beyond what would result from the additional case filings.