Convictions for February 2024
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during February 2024 the government reported 841 new convictions 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 4.6 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants convicted 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 2024 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of convictions was up (5.3%). 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 16.1 percent from levels reported in 2019.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Convictions
The increase from the levels five years ago in convictions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of 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.
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
The largest number of convictions of these matters in February 2024 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 51.2 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (31.9%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (11.5%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (3.1%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In February 2024, no defendants in cases for these matters were convicted 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.
Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In February 2024, 840 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during February 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 February.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during February 2024 referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 404 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 229 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 26 3 3 3 More 46 USC 70506 - Penalties 16 5 8 8 More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 11 6 7 6 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 7 7 6 7 More 21 USC 959 - Possession, manufacture, or distribution for purpo 7 7 16 13 More 46 USC 70503 - Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US 4 9 5 5 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 3 10 13 11 More Table 2. Top Charges for Convictions
"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 convictions — up 250 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 21 U.S.C Section 959 that involves " Possession, manufacture, or distribution for purpo ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 764.3 percent — was registered for convictions under "Other US Code Section " (Title U.S.C Section ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago — down 50 percent — was " Hobbs Act " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1951 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 50 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In February 2024 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government obtained 302.4 convictions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of convictions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 convictions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Montana 1,817 17 1 66 76 More Delaware 1,767 15 2 86 87 More Fla, N 1,474 24 3 41 38 More Texas, E 1,179 43 4 4 6 More Hawaii 1,000 12 5 84 84 More Mo, E 988 24 6 5 10 More W Virg, N 909 7 7 75 71 More Ala, M 907 9 8 75 76 More Okla, N 874 8 9 63 82 More Alaska 854 5 10 73 57 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of Montana — with 1817 convictions as compared with 302.4 convictions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during February 2024.
The District of Delaware ranked 2nd.
Northern District of Florida (Pensacola) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of Florida (Pensacola), now ranked 3rd , and Northern District of Oklahoma (Tulsa) at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 41st and 63rd one year ago and 38th and 82nd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago — 221.4 percent — was Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 233.3 percent — was Delaware .
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 resulting in convictions of this type during February 2024 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Mazzant, Amos L. Texas, E 27 1 12 12 More Pittman, Mark Timothy Texas, N 13 2 14 - More Besosa, Francisco Augusto Puer Rico 12 3 17 209 More Delgado-Colon, Aida M. Puer Rico 11 4 55 209 More Schroeder, Robert William, III Texas, E 11 4 - - More O'Connor, Reed Charles Texas, N 8 6 5 14 More Pitman, Robert Texas, W 8 6 17 319 More Marks, Emily Coody Ala, M 7 8 490 504 More Holmes, Paul Kinloch, III Ark, W 7 8 129 144 More Kacsmaryk, Matthew Joseph Texas, N 7 8 2 - More Morales, David Steven Texas, S 7 8 72 - More Peterson, James Donald Wisc, W 7 8 312 - 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 convictions per capita, while the remaining 9 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Amos L. Mazzant in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) ranked 1st with 27 convicted in convictions.
Judge Mark Timothy Pittman in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) ranked 2nd with 13 convicted in convictions.
Judge Francisco Augusto Besosa in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 3rd with 12 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: April 3, 2024
