About the
Law
Federal prosecutors frequently choose to charge
individual defendants with a variety of crimes
under a number of different statutes. An organized
crime figure who committed a murder while
negotiating a drug deal, for example, might be
indicted for murder, drug dealing, and numerous
organized crime and conspiracy offenses. During the
data collection process, the Justice Department
asks the prosecutors to select the "lead charge" on
all referrals that they handle. Obviously, these
judgments often are somewhat subjective when
multiple serious charges are involved. Sometimes,
they are influenced by the political needs of the
moment: an administration, for example, that wants
to show the public it is concentrating on organized
crime or threats to the nation's internal security.
Here then, as viewed through the lens of federal
prosecutors across the country, are the most
frequently cited "lead charges" involved in
referrals coming from the DEA. The complete text of
these frequently cited lead charges can be viewed
by selecting the particular statute of interest in
the following table.
Click on statute to view
text