Prosecutions for July 2025
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during July 2025 the government reported 622 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 1.1 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 2025 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was up (2.2%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are up 8 percent from levels reported in 2020.
The leveling out in these cases is partly related to increases in the matters filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. If magistrate cases are excluded and only Federal District Court cases are counted, the overall increase in prosecutions is 2.2 percent instead of 8 percent. The evidence suggests that part of the difference may be the result of improvements in the recording of the magistrate cases by the Justice Department.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
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 July 2025 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 54.3 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (27.2%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (9.2%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.4%), "Immigration" (2.6%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In July 2025, 92 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 July the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 50 percent of all magistrate filings in July.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (9.8%), "Other US Code Section" (8.7%), "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (8.7%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In July 2025, 530 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during July there were an additional 88 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 July.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during July 2025 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 328 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 58 2 2 2 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 9 4 5 4 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 6 5 3 3 More 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 5 6 - - More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 4 7 7 6 More 18 USC 1201 - Kidnaping 3 8 15 12 More 18 USC 844 - Explosives - Importation and storage of explosives 2 9 9 8 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 2 9 6 7 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841. "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section. "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section was ranked 4 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 20.6 percent — compared to one year ago was Title U.S.C Section that involves "Other US Code Section ". This was the same statute that had the largest increase — 138.4 % — when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 69.8 percent — was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 65.8 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In July 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 221.4 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 Ala, M 1,605 16 1 51 48 More D. C. 1,414 8 2 79 88 More Montana 1,377 13 3 20 20 More Okla, E 1,288 8 4 51 83 More Mo, W 950 26 5 19 26 More Ala, S 828 6 6 50 55 More Mo, E 824 20 7 29 4 More Ala, N 710 18 8 22 9 More Ill, S 692 7 9 72 58 More Miss, N 660 6 10 82 85 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery) — with 1605 prosecutions as compared with 221.4 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during July 2025.
The District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) ranked 2nd.
District of Montana is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Western District of Missouri (Kansas City), now ranked 5th , and Montana at 3rd In the same order, these districts ranked 19th and 20th one year ago and 26th and 20th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 225 percent — was Washington, D.C. (Washington). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 1200 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 4.8 percent — was Montana . But over the past five years, Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) showed the largest drop — 39.8 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 July 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Kays, David Gregory Mo, W 14 1 More Sippel, Rodney W. Mo, E 11 2 More Merryday, Steven Douglas Fla, M 7 3 More Marks, Emily Coody Ala, M 6 4 More Wang, Nina Y. Colorado 6 4 More Dimitrouleas, William P. Fla, S 6 4 More Weisman, M. David Ill, N 6 4 More Watters, Susan Pamela Montana 6 4 More Barker, J. Campbell Texas, E 6 4 More Bell, Kenneth Davis, Sr. N Car, W 5 10 More Cogan, Brian Mark N. Y., E 5 10 More White, Ronald A. Okla, E 5 10 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 David Gregory Kays in the Western District of Missouri (Kansas City) ranked 1st with 14 defendants in cases.
Judge Rodney W. Sippel in the Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) ranked 2nd with 11 defendants in cases.
Judge Steven Douglas Merryday in the Middle District of Florida (Tampa) ranked 3rd with 7 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: September 25, 2025
