Prosecutions for January 2025
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during January 2025 the government reported 500 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 8.5 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 2025 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-14.5%). 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 42.5 percent from levels reported in 2020.
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 January 2025 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 39.8 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (38.4%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (17%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (2.2%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In January 2025, 138 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 January 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 37.7 percent of all magistrate filings in January.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "Other US Code Section" (9.4%), "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (9.4%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In January 2025, 362 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during January there were an additional 72 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 January.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during January 2025 referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 193 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 57 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 9 3 4 4 More 46 USC 70503 - Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US 5 5 11 5 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 4 6 13 13 More 18 USC 951 - Agents of foreign governments 4 6 - - More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 4 6 7 6 More 46 USC 70506 - Penalties 3 9 5 14 More 21 USC 843 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C 2 10 9 8 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 4 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 150 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 924 that involves " Firearms; Penalties ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 100 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Penalties " (Title 46 U.S.C Section 70506 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 68.8 percent — was " Penalties " (Title 46 U.S.C Section 70506 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 74.3 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Laundering of monetary instruments " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In January 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 155.5 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 Dakota 1,837 12 1 69 62 More Ala, S 1,105 8 2 85 86 More Ala, M 602 6 3 61 90 More Ill, S 593 6 4 59 28 More Ark, W 591 7 5 72 65 More Texas, S 544 47 6 1 3 More Iowa, N 451 5 7 79 57 More Ken, E 429 8 8 17 26 More Texas, N 403 26 9 4 1 More Okla, W 382 7 10 31 32 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of North Dakota — with 1837 prosecutions as compared with 155.5 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during January 2025.
The Southern District of Alabama (Mobile) ranked 2nd.
Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington), now ranked 8th , and Western District of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City) at 10th In the same order, these districts ranked 17th and 31st one year ago and 26th and 32nd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 383.3 percent — was Southern District of Alabama (Mobile). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 285.7 percent — was Middle District of Alabama (Montgomery).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 9.7 percent — was Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington). But over the past five years, Southern District of Illinois (East St. Louis) showed the largest drop — 36.8 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 January 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Lake, Simeon Timothy, III Texas, S 34 1 - 194 More Kacsmaryk, Matthew Joseph Texas, N 13 2 12 70 More Domenico, Daniel Desmond Colorado 9 3 38 456 More Stadtmueller, Joseph Peter Wisc, E 9 3 376 60 More Barber, Thomas Patrick Fla, M 7 5 99 456 More Hovland, Daniel L. N Dakota 7 5 197 24 More Limbaugh, Stephen Nathaniel, Jr. Mo, E 6 7 31 40 More Boyle, Jane J. Texas, N 6 7 376 164 More Welte, Peter David N Dakota 5 9 197 229 More Cogan, Brian Mark N. Y., E 5 9 - - More Wyrick, Patrick Robert Okla, W 5 9 244 229 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.)
Judge Simeon Timothy Lake, III in the Southern District of Texas (Houston) ranked 1st with 34 defendants in cases.
Judge Matthew Joseph Kacsmaryk in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) ranked 2nd with 13 defendants in cases.
Judges Daniel Desmond Domenico in the District of Colorado and Joseph Peter Stadtmueller in the Eastern District of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) ranked 3rd with 9 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: March 12, 2025
