Prosecutions for June 2025
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during June 2025 the government reported 692 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 17.9 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 2025 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-9.6%). 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 12 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 June 2025 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 51.4 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (24.6%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (12%), "Violence-Other" (3.9%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (2.5%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In June 2025, 136 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 June 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 62.5 percent of all magistrate filings in June.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (13.2%), "Other US Code Section" (5.9%), "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (5.9%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In June 2025, 556 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during June there were an additional 102 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 prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during June 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 278 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 149 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 12 3 4 3 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 7 5 25 - More 18 USC 1111 - Murder 5 6 - - More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 5 6 8 6 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 4 8 6 7 More 18 USC 1791 - Providing or possessing contraband in prison 3 9 14 20 More 21 USC 843 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C 3 9 11 8 More 21 USC 959 - Possession, manufacture, or distribution for purpo 3 9 6 13 More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 3 9 9 12 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 600 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1343 that involves " Fraud by wire, radio, or television ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 283.3 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 963 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 68.2 percent — was " Importation of controlled substances " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 72 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In June 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 235.8 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 N Dakota 2,296 15 1 21 19 More W Virg, N 1,555 12 2 14 74 More La, E 1,171 16 3 29 61 More Okla, N 1,083 10 4 12 73 More S Dakota 1,060 8 5 24 53 More Ind, S 854 30 6 43 16 More Ala, M 702 7 7 45 74 More Texas, E 698 26 8 2 2 More Miss, N 660 6 9 41 91 More Texas, S 649 56 10 1 1 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of North Dakota — with 2296 prosecutions as compared with 235.8 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during June 2025.
The Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) ranked 2nd.
Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of Oklahoma (Tulsa), now ranked 4th , and Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) at 2nd In the same order, these districts ranked 12th and 14th one year ago and 73rd and 74th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 75 percent — was Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 700 percent — was Northern District of Mississippi (Oxford).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 78.4 percent — was Northern District of Mississippi (Oxford). But over the past five years, Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) showed the largest drop — 39.6 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 June 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Carreņo-Coll, Silvia Luisa Puer Rico 54 1 27 - More Pepper, Pamela Wisc, E 14 2 44 - More Steger, Christopher H. Tenn, E 13 3 81 - More Welte, Peter David N Dakota 12 4 5 444 More Kane, John L., Jr. Colorado 9 5 - - More Jung, William Frederic Fla, M 9 5 18 90 More Barber, Thomas Patrick Fla, M 9 5 24 - More Saporito, Joseph F., Jr. Penn, M 9 5 - - More Mazzant, Amos L. Texas, E 9 5 1 1 More Bough, Stephen Rogers Mo, W 8 10 44 30 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 8 10 26 17 More Ramos, Nelva Gonzales Texas, S 8 10 44 15 More Bennett, Alfred Homer Texas, S 8 10 290 129 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 8 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 13 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Silvia Luisa Carreņo-Coll in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 1st with 54 defendants in cases.
Judge Pamela Pepper in the Eastern District of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) ranked 2nd with 14 defendants in cases.
Judge Christopher H. Steger in the Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville) ranked 3rd with 13 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: July 29, 2025
