Prosecutions for March 2023
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2023 the government reported 965 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 up 40.9 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 2023 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-4.5%). 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 16.7 percent from levels reported in 2018.
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 March 2023 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 55 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (25.1%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (12.1%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (3%), "Money Laundering-Drug" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 2023, 204 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 March 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 47.5 percent of all magistrate filings in March.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (20.6%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In March 2023, 761 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March there were an additional 129 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 March.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during March 2023 referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 393 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 145 2 2 2 More 46 USC 70506 - Penalties 24 3 5 5 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 22 4 7 9 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 21 6 3 3 More 46 USC 70503 - Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US 17 7 6 4 More 18 USC 846 - Explosives - Additional powers of the Secretary 14 8 8 19 More 21 USC 843 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C 4 9 10 8 More 18 USC 4 - Misprision of Felony 2 10 22 27 More 18 USC 2332 - Terrorism - Criminal penalties 2 10 - - More 21 USC 856 - Establishment for manufacturing operations 2 10 19 19 More 21 USC 959 - Possession, manufacture, or distribution for purpo 2 10 12 11 More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 2 10 9 6 More 26 USC 5841 - Registration of firearms 2 10 - - More 31 USC 5332 - Bulk Cash Smuggling into or out of the United States 2 10 26 32 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 "Penalties" under Title 46 U.S.C Section 70506. "Penalties" under Title 46 U.S.C Section 70506 was ranked 5 a year ago, while it was ranked 5 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 200 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 31 U.S.C Section 5332 that involves " Bulk Cash Smuggling into or out of the United States ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 1110 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 42.3 percent — was " Explosives - Additional powers of the Secretary " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 846 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 50 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US " (Title 46 U.S.C Section 70503 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In March 2023 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 321.8 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 S Dakota 2,177 16 1 37 83 More La, M 1,833 13 2 88 28 More Ark, W 1,725 20 3 49 66 More Ill, S 1,662 17 4 38 37 More Alaska 1,540 9 5 91 63 More W Virg, S 1,116 8 6 62 87 More Texas, W 987 63 7 2 1 More Ark, E 881 12 8 8 7 More Texas, N 828 52 9 3 3 More Utah 827 23 10 12 15 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of South Dakota — with 2177 prosecutions as compared with 321.8 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during March 2023.
The Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge) ranked 2nd.
Western District of Arkansas (Fort Smith) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Utah , now ranked 10th , and South Dakota at 1st In the same order, these districts ranked 12th and 37th one year ago and 15th and 83rd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 200 percent — was Alaska . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 112.5 percent — was South Dakota .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 52.2 percent — was Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston). But over the past five years, Middle District of Louisiana (Baton Rouge) showed the largest drop — 67.3 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 March 2023 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Biery, Samuel Frederick, Jr. Texas, W 16 1 More Garcia, Orlando Luis Texas, W 16 1 More Delgado Hernandez, Pedro Alberto Puer Rico 14 3 More Royal, C. Ashley Ga, M 12 4 More Dick, Shelly Deckert La, M 10 5 More Velez-Rive, Camille L. Puer Rico 10 5 More Jordan, Sean D. Texas, E 10 5 More O'Connor, Reed Charles Texas, N 10 5 More Varlan, Thomas A. Tenn, E 9 9 More Rodriguez, Xavier Texas, W 9 9 More Nielson, Howard Curtis, Jr. Utah 9 9 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 6 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. (Because of ties, there were a total of 11 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judges Samuel Frederick Biery, Jr. in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) and Orlando Luis Garcia in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 1st with 16 defendants in cases.
Judge Pedro Alberto Delgado Hernandez in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 3rd with 14 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: May 1, 2023
