Prosecutions for June 2018
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during June 2018 the government reported 1045 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 12.6 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 2018 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (5.5%). 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 11.5 percent from levels reported in 2013.
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 June 2018 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 38.5 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (33%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (22%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (2.7%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In June 2018, 164 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 June the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 involving "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A". This was the lead charge for 43.9 percent of all magistrate filings in June.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (26.2%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In June 2018, 881 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during June there were an additional 144 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 matters filed in U.S. District Court during June 2018 referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 357 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 235 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 24 3 4 3 More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 23 4 6 6 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 15 5 10 10 More 21 USC 843 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C 9 6 10 5 More 21 USC 959 - Possession, manufacture, or distribution for purpo 4 8 10 16 More 46 USC 70506 - Penalties 4 8 7 24 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 3 10 5 4 More 31 USC 5332 - Bulk Cash Smuggling into or out of the United States 3 10 25 - More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (Title 21 U.S.C Section 841) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (Title 21 U.S.C Section 841) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846. "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Firearms; Unlawful acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 922. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 457.1 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 that involves " Importation of controlled substances ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 733.3 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Penalties " (Title 46 U.S.C Section 70506 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 57.1 percent — was " Possession, manufacture, or distribution for purpo " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 959 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 37.9 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In June 2018 the Justice Department said the government brought 380.7 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 La, M 3,305 23 1 75 74 More W Virg, N 3,229 25 2 91 90 More N Dakota 1,900 12 3 61 69 More Ken, E 1,580 29 4 15 8 More Okla, E 1,443 9 5 91 86 More Ark, E 1,390 19 6 23 15 More Ga, S 1,370 18 7 53 55 More Okla, N 1,243 11 8 64 61 More Ark, W 1,157 13 9 69 21 More Texas, E 1,072 35 10 9 6 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge) — with 3305 prosecutions as compared with 380.7 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during June 2018.
The Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) ranked 2nd.
District of North Dakota is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington), now ranked 4th , and Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) at 6th In the same order, these districts ranked 15th and 23rd one year ago and 8th and 15th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 1433.3 percent — was Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 557.1 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 2.9 percent — was Southern District of Georgia (Savannah). But over the past five years, Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington) showed the largest drop — 43.8 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 June 2018 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 29 1 - - More Pearson, Benita Yalonda Ohio, N 28 2 436 570 More Cummings, Samuel Ray Texas, N 27 3 17 147 More Birotte, Andre, Jr. Cal, C 25 4 521 - More Jackson, Brian Anthony La, M 21 5 521 368 More Townes, Sandra L. N. Y., E 20 6 521 183 More Crone, Marcia A. Texas, E 18 7 73 4 More Varlan, Thomas A. Tenn, E 17 8 43 7 More Jones, Richard A. Wash, W 17 8 225 247 More Van Tatenhove, Gregory Frederick Ken, E 15 10 28 147 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 7 judges were from other districts.
Judge Walter David Counts, III in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 29 defendants in cases.
Judge Benita Yalonda Pearson in the Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) ranked 2nd with 28 defendants in cases.
Judge Samuel Ray Cummings in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) ranked 3rd with 27 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: August 1, 2018
