Prosecutions for August 2018
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during August 2018 the government reported 941 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 2.5 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 2018 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was only slightly up (2%). 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 10.1 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 August 2018 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 52.5 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (24.5%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (11.8%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (4.1%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In August 2018, 206 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 August 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 54.9 percent of all magistrate filings in August.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (23.8%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In August 2018, 735 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during August there were an additional 146 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 August.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during August 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 348 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 178 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 20 3 4 3 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 17 4 10 7 More 21 USC 860 - Distribution or manufacturing in or near schools a 15 5 - - More 46 USC 70503 - Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US 10 6 5 17 More 46 USC 70506 - Penalties 10 6 6 25 More 21 USC 843 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C 7 9 10 8 More 18 USC 1029 - Fraud and related activity - access devices 4 10 25 - 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 4 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 550 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 — 640 percent — was registered for prosecutions under "Other US Code Section " (Title U.S.C Section ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 50 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 — 37.8 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In August 2018 the Justice Department said the government brought 327.2 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 Miss, N 1,936 18 1 67 66 More Hawaii 1,932 23 2 79 28 More Okla, N 1,695 15 3 62 64 More Ill, S 1,330 14 4 26 59 More Tenn, E 1,199 26 5 19 6 More N Mexico 1,096 19 6 3 5 More Texas, N 1,011 61 7 7 6 More S Dakota 987 7 8 83 72 More Texas, W 896 53 9 1 2 More Ken, E 871 16 10 17 12 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Northern District of Mississippi (Oxford) — with 1936 prosecutions as compared with 327.2 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during August 2018.
The District of Hawaii ranked 2nd.
Northern District of Oklahoma (Tulsa) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington), now ranked 10th , and Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) at 5th In the same order, these districts ranked 17th and 19th one year ago and 12th and 6th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 241.7 percent — was South Dakota . This was the same district that had the largest increase — 86.4 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 44.7 percent — was New Mexico . But over the past five years, Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) showed the largest drop — 53.3 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 August 2018 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 27 1 498 - More O'Connor, Reed Charles Texas, N 20 2 100 110 More Mueller, Kimberly Jo Cal, E 14 3 76 82 More Frizzell, Gregory Kent Okla, N 14 3 228 174 More Fitzwater, Sidney Allen Texas, N 12 5 4 359 More Rosenberg, Robin Lee Fla, S 11 6 498 - More Young, Richard L. Ind, S 11 6 25 67 More Rainey, John David Texas, S 10 8 14 35 More Ramos, Nelva Gonzales Texas, S 10 8 2 2 More Biery, Samuel Frederick, Jr. Texas, W 10 8 89 51 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 5 judges were from other districts.
Judge Walter David Counts, III in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 27 defendants in cases.
Judge Reed Charles O'Connor in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) ranked 2nd with 20 defendants in cases.
Judges Kimberly Jo Mueller in the Eastern District of California (Sacramento) and Gregory Kent Frizzell in the Northern District of Oklahoma (Tulsa) ranked 3rd with 14 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: October 4, 2018
