Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Number Latest Month
632
Percent Change from previous month
1.6
Percent Change from 1 year ago
9.6
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Including Magistrate Court)
10.0
Percent Change from 5 years ago (Excluding Magistrate Court)
10.1
Table 1. Criminal Convictions
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during June 2025 the government reported 632 new convictions 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 up 1.6 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants convicted 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 convictions of this type are compared with those of the same period in
the previous year, the number of convictions was up (9.6%).
Convictions over the past year are still much higher than they were five years ago.
Overall, the data show that convictions of this type are up 10 percent from levels reported in 2020.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Convictions
The increase from the levels five years ago in convictions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1.
The vertical bars in Figure 1
represent the number of convictions 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 convictions of these matters in June 2025 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 70.3 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (13%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (5.7%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (4.6%), "Violence-Other" (4.3%).
See Figure 2.
Figure 2. Specific Types of Convictions
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In June 2025, no defendants in cases for these matters were convicted 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.
Convictions in U.S. District Courts
In June 2025, 630 defendants in new cases
for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during June there
were an additional 0 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 June.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters
filed in U.S. District Court during June 2025 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
"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 were "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section and "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846.
"Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section was ranked 4 a year ago, while it was ranked 6 five years ago."Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 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 convictions — up 71.3 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 — 128.4 % — when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest
decline in convictions compared to one year ago — down 59.3 percent — was
" Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ).
Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions — 27 percent — was
for convictions where the lead charge was " Firearms; Penalties " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 924 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In June 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government obtained 225.7 convictions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of convictions in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the
largest number of convictions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3.
Districts must have at least 5 convictions to receive a ranking.
Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of Montana — with 1695 convictions as compared with 225.7 convictions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during June 2025.
The District of Vermont ranked 2nd.
Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were
Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville), now ranked
10th
, and Western District of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City)
at 6th
In the same order, these districts ranked 11th and 23rd one year ago and 4th and 46th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth
in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago — 200 percent — was
Vermont .
Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 325 percent — was
Eastern District of Oklahoma (Muskogee).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the
largest drop in the rate of convictions — 30 percent — was
Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville).
This was the same district that had the largest increase — 54.5 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 resulting in convictions of this type during June 2025 are shown in Table 4.
A total of 7 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of convictions per capita, while the remaining 7 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 14 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Susan Pamela Watters in the District of Montana ranked 1st with 9 convicted in convictions.
Judge James C. Dever, III in the Eastern District of North Carolina (Raleigh) ranked 2nd with 7 convicted in convictions.
Judges Thomas Lamson Ludington in the Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit), Keith P. Ellison in the Southern District of Texas (Houston), William K. Sessions, III in the District of Vermont and Roderick C. Young in the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria) ranked 3rd with 6 convicted in convictions.