Prosecutions for September 2018
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2018 the government reported 1211 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 29.4 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 10.2 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 September 2018 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 41.2 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (38.6%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (15.6%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (3.2%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In September 2018, 268 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 September 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 46.6 percent of all magistrate filings in September.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (11.6%), "21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances" (8.2%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In September 2018, 943 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September there were an additional 158 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 September.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during September 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 376 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 212 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 27 3 3 3 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 17 4 9 8 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 13 5 4 4 More 46 USC 70503 - Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US 11 7 5 11 More 46 USC 70506 - Penalties 7 8 6 20 More 21 USC 843 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C 3 9 12 7 More 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 2 10 20 41 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 2 10 11 10 More 18 USC 1791 - Providing or possessing contraband in prison 2 10 - 26 More 18 USC 1952 - Racketeering -interstate/foreign travel/transport 2 10 20 15 More 21 USC 860 - Distribution or manufacturing in or near schools a 2 10 - - 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 3 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 820 percent — compared to one year ago was Title U.S.C Section that involves "Other US Code Section ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 1050 % — when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 33.8 percent — was " Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US " (Title 46 U.S.C Section 70503 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 50 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Providing or possessing contraband in prison " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1791 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In September 2018 the Justice Department said the government brought 408.9 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 Ark, E 2,707 37 1 11 14 More Tenn, W 2,370 31 2 24 9 More Ga, M 2,031 34 3 15 57 More Ga, S 1,827 24 4 37 67 More W Virg, S 1,730 13 5 91 65 More Texas, E 1,409 46 6 9 5 More N Mexico 1,384 24 7 5 7 More Tenn, E 1,291 28 8 23 15 More S Dakota 1,269 9 9 80 74 More Ark, W 1,246 14 10 75 40 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) — with 2707 prosecutions as compared with 408.9 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during September 2018.
The Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) ranked 2nd.
Middle District of Georgia (Macon) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock), now ranked 1st , and Middle District of Georgia (Macon) at 3rd In the same order, these districts ranked 11th and 15th one year ago and 14th and 57th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 850 percent — was Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 140.5 percent — was Middle District of Georgia (Macon).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 38.7 percent — was Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock). But over the past five years, Western District of Tennessee (Memphis) showed the largest drop — 56.4 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 September 2018 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Miller, Brian Stacy Ark, E 32 1 93 43 More Greer, J. Ronnie Tenn, E 26 2 387 13 More Godbey, David C. Texas, N 25 3 127 359 More Mazzant, Amos L. Texas, E 21 4 6 - More Crone, Marcia A. Texas, E 20 5 35 3 More Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 19 6 485 - More Shea, Michael Peter Conn 16 7 127 - More Conrad, Robert James, Jr. N Car, W 16 7 281 - More Vazquez, Martha Alicia N Mexico 15 9 189 159 More Magnus-Stinson, Jane Elizabeth Ind, S 12 10 485 307 More Bramlette, David C., III Miss, S 12 10 - 417 More Boyko, Christopher A. Ohio, N 12 10 - 566 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 5 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. (Because of ties, there were a total of 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Brian Stacy Miller in the Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock) ranked 1st with 32 defendants in cases.
Judge J. Ronnie Greer in the Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) ranked 2nd with 26 defendants in cases.
Judge David C. Godbey in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) ranked 3rd with 25 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: October 22, 2018
