Prosecutions for September 2024
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2024 the government reported 614 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 down 5 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 2024 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-5.7%). 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 40.5 percent from levels reported in 2019.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
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 2024 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 45.6 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (33.6%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (16.8%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (2.4%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In September 2024, 112 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 52.7 percent of all magistrate filings in September.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (13.4%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In September 2024, 502 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September there were an additional 118 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 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 262 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 117 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 13 3 3 3 More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 5 5 7 9 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 4 6 10 7 More 21 USC 843 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C 3 7 8 6 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 3 7 9 5 More 46 USC 70506 - Penalties 2 9 6 10 More 18 USC 4 - Misprision of Felony 1 10 14 - More 18 USC 1957 - Monetary transactions w/property from unlawful act 1 10 15 - More 21 USC 842 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts B 1 10 - 35 More 21 USC 844 - Penalty for simple possession 1 10 16 22 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 1 10 - 35 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 were "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section and "Firearms; Unlawful acts" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 922. "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 4 five years ago."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 155.6 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956 that involves " Laundering of monetary instruments ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 100 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts " (Title 26 U.S.C Section 5861 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 50 percent — was " Penalty for simple possession " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 844 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 84.4 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Importation of controlled substances " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In September 2024 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 223.2 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 Montana 1,069 10 1 31 78 More Ark, W 1,024 12 2 49 60 More S Dakota 937 7 3 33 49 More Texas, N 863 55 4 1 4 More Ark, E 805 11 5 10 16 More Iowa, N 721 8 6 71 49 More Cal, S 695 20 7 5 3 More Mo, W 662 18 8 45 13 More Tenn, W 617 8 9 57 20 More Ken, E 592 11 10 22 12 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of Montana — with 1069 prosecutions as compared with 223.2 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during September 2024.
The Western District of Arkansas (Fort Smith) ranked 2nd.
District of South Dakota is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington), now ranked 10th , and Montana at 1st In the same order, these districts ranked 22nd and 31st one year ago and 12th and 78th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 151.4 percent — was Western District of Missouri (Kansas City). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 31.8 percent — was Montana .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 46.6 percent — was Southern District of California (San Diego). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 75.1 percent — when compared with five years ago.
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 2024 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Ellison, Keith P. Texas, S 25 1 35 564 More Helmick, Jeffrey James Ohio, N 18 2 392 564 More Battaglia, Anthony Joseph Cal, S 13 3 331 104 More Ketchmark, Roseann Ambrosia Mo, W 12 4 331 334 More Rosenthal, Lee Hyman Texas, S 10 5 204 104 More Corker, Clifton Leland Tenn, E 8 6 89 129 More Jordan, Sean D. Texas, E 8 6 5 - More Spector, Robert M. Conn 7 8 - - More Talwani, Indira Mass 7 8 150 288 More Melgren, Eric F. Kansas 6 10 168 401 More Carreņo-Coll, Silvia Luisa Puer Rico 6 10 204 - More Kacsmaryk, Matthew Joseph Texas, N 6 10 12 - 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 9 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Keith P. Ellison in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 25 defendants in cases.
Judge Jeffrey James Helmick in the Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) ranked 2nd with 18 defendants in cases.
Judge Anthony Joseph Battaglia in the Southern District of California (San Diego) ranked 3rd with 13 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: November 1, 2024
