Prosecutions for April 2018
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during April 2018 the government reported 1019 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 8.1 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 (12.1%). 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 7.4 percent from levels reported in 2013.
The leveling out 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 April 2018 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 49.7 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (26.9%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (17.3%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (3.5%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In April 2018, 234 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 April 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 58.5 percent of all magistrate filings in April.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (18.4%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In April 2018, 785 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during April there were an additional 182 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 April.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during April 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 414 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 204 2 2 2 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 32 3 11 5 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 15 4 4 3 More 18 USC 2285 - Operate submersible vessel/semi-submersible vessel without nationality 14 5 - - More 46 USC 70503 - Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US 13 6 3 13 More 46 USC 70506 - Penalties 6 7 6 16 More 21 USC 843 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C 5 8 8 7 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 3 9 11 9 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 3 9 5 4 More 21 USC 960 - Prohibited acts A 3 9 - 24 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 "Importation of controlled substances" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 952.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 258.8 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 — 750 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US " (Title 46 U.S.C Section 70503 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 70.1 percent — was " Laundering of monetary instruments " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 45.9 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In April 2018 the Justice Department said the government brought 359.1 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 N Mexico 2,364 41 1 3 5 More Ark, W 2,136 24 2 70 46 More W Virg, S 2,129 16 3 81 68 More New Hamp 1,978 22 4 86 87 More Texas, W 1,404 83 5 2 1 More Mo, E 1,392 34 6 18 40 More N Dakota 1,267 8 7 58 62 More Vermont 1,153 6 8 53 45 More Ga, M 1,075 18 9 22 24 More Texas, E 919 30 10 9 8 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of New Mexico — with 2364 prosecutions as compared with 359.1 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during April 2018. The District of New Mexico was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 for most frequent use five years ago.
The Western District of Arkansas (Fort Smith) ranked 2nd.
Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis), now ranked 6th , and Middle District of Georgia (Macon) at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 18th and 22nd one year ago and 40th and 24th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 510 percent — was New Hampshire . This was the same district that had the largest increase — 771.4 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 39.4 percent — was New Mexico . But over the past five years, Vermont showed the largest drop — 54.2 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 April 2018 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 64 1 - - More Webber, E. Richard Mo, E 23 2 513 - More Brack, Robert C. N Mexico 23 2 4 15 More Martinez, William Joseph Colorado 22 4 - 333 More Shea, Michael Peter Conn 20 5 269 - More Rosenberg, Robin Lee Fla, S 17 6 269 - More Abrams, Leslie Joyce Ga, M 15 7 269 - More Priest Johnson, Kimberly C. Texas, E 14 8 - - More Cooke, Marcia G. Fla, S 12 9 199 81 More May, Leigh Martin Ga, N 10 10 320 - More Magnus-Stinson, Jane Elizabeth Ind, S 10 10 428 561 More Conley, William Martin Wisc, W 10 10 117 475 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 Walter David Counts, III in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 64 defendants in cases.
Judges E. Richard Webber in the Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) and Robert C. Brack in the District of New Mexico ranked 2nd with 23 defendants in cases. Judge Brack also appeared in the top ten rankings one year ago (ranked 4).
Report Generated: May 23, 2018
