Prosecutions for June 2026
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during June 2026 the government reported 589 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 down 18.2 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 2026 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was down (-7.3%). 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 34.5 percent from levels reported in 2021.
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 2026 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 60.6 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (28%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (3.1%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (2.9%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In June 2026, 122 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 54.9 percent of all magistrate filings in June.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (31.1%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In June 2026, 467 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during June there were an additional 126 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 2026 referred by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 258 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 137 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 12 3 3 4 More 18 USC 2118 - Robberies/burglaries w/controlled substances 4 4 16 25 More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 3 5 6 7 More 18 USC 1365 - Tampering with consumer products 2 6 26 - More 21 USC 843 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C 2 6 10 10 More 18 USC 4 - Misprision of Felony 1 8 26 15 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 1 8 - 13 More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 1 8 9 14 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 1 8 5 8 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 1 8 31 - More 21 USC 813 - Treatment of Controlled Substance Analogues 1 8 - - More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 1 8 13 12 More 21 USC 959 - Possession, manufacture, or distribution for purpo 1 8 8 10 More State or Territory Provision 2 16 - - 33 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 3 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 100 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 2252 that involves " Material involving sexual exploitation of minors ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 400 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Robberies/burglaries w/controlled substances " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2118 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 50 percent — was " Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts C " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 843 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 90 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 371 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In June 2026 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 209.2 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 W Virg, N 1,547 12 1 36 65 More Montana 1,266 12 2 45 73 More Okla, N 1,070 10 3 24 39 More Tenn, E 809 19 4 13 18 More Texas, E 730 28 5 3 4 More Ill, S 691 7 6 63 28 More New Hamp 681 8 7 79 58 More Okla, W 594 11 8 40 46 More Cal, S 586 17 9 13 5 More Ken, E 530 10 10 22 9 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) — with 1547 prosecutions as compared with 209.2 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during June 2026.
The District of Montana ranked 2nd.
Northern District of Oklahoma (Tulsa) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Eastern District of Tennessee (Knoxville), now ranked 4th , and Southern District of California (San Diego) at 9th In the same order, these districts ranked 13th and 13th one year ago and 18th and 5th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 140 percent — was Western District of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 110 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 32.4 percent — was Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling). But over the past five years, Southern District of California (San Diego) showed the largest drop — 66 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 2026 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Mazzant, Amos L. Texas, E 10 1 More Pittman, Mark Timothy Texas, N 10 1 More Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 9 3 More Adelman, Lynn S. Wisc, E 7 4 More Bunning, David L. Ken, E 6 5 More Johnstone, Andrea K. New Hamp 6 5 More Palk, Scott Lawrence Okla, W 6 5 More O'Connor, Reed Charles Texas, N 6 5 More Schydlower, Leon Texas, W 6 5 More Birotte, Andre, Jr. Cal, C 5 10 More Brown, Ada Elene Texas, N 5 10 More Crane, Randy Texas, S 5 10 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 4 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 12 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judges Amos L. Mazzant in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) and Mark Timothy Pittman in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) ranked 1st with 10 defendants in cases.
Judge Walter David Counts, III in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 3rd with 9 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: August 12, 2026
