Prosecutions for September 2025
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2025 the government reported 725 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 23.3 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 (-5.5%). 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 23.3 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 September 2025 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 63.2 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (21.4%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (7.6%), "Money Laundering-Drug" (2.5%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (2.1%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In September 2025, 124 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 September 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 percent of all magistrate filings in September.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy" (27.4%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In September 2025, 601 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September there were an additional 97 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 September.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during September 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 384 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 81 2 2 2 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 21 3 6 7 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 12 5 4 3 More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 8 6 8 15 More 21 USC 952 - Importation of controlled substances 7 7 10 5 More 18 USC 1959 - Violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity 5 8 - - More 21 USC 959 - Possession, manufacture, or distribution for purpo 3 9 5 8 More 21 USC 960 - Prohibited acts A 3 9 12 13 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 "Laundering of monetary instruments" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956. "Laundering of monetary instruments" under Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956 was ranked 6 a year ago, while it was ranked 7 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 121.7 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1956 that involves " Laundering of monetary instruments ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 666.7 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 64 percent — was " Possession, manufacture, or distribution for purpo " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 959 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 73.7 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Importation of controlled substances " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 952 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In September 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 250.1 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 Miss, N 1,870 17 1 59 - More Ken, E 1,234 23 2 13 27 More Okla, E 1,127 7 3 87 80 More Iowa, N 901 10 4 49 18 More La, E 878 12 5 44 74 More Mo, E 865 21 6 6 7 More Ark, E 802 11 7 14 44 More Okla, W 654 12 8 24 56 More Ill, C 618 11 9 70 49 More Mo, W 585 16 10 11 17 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Northern District of Mississippi (Oxford) — with 1870 prosecutions as compared with 250.1 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during September 2025.
The Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington) ranked 2nd.
Eastern District of Oklahoma (Muskogee) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Western District of Missouri (Kansas City), now ranked 10th , and Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington) at 2nd In the same order, these districts ranked 11th and 13th one year ago and 17th and 27th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 200 percent — was Eastern District of Oklahoma (Muskogee). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 290.9 percent — was Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 24 percent — was Western District of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City). But over the past five years, Northern District of Iowa (Cedar Rapids) showed the largest drop — 59.1 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 September 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Carreņo-Coll, Silvia Luisa Puer Rico 43 1 30 184 More Brown, Debra Marie Miss, N 15 2 15 - More Brimmer, Philip A. Colorado 13 3 222 103 More Wier, Robert Earl Ken, E 12 4 110 103 More Bough, Stephen Rogers Mo, W 9 5 10 165 More Jordan, Sean D. Texas, E 8 6 12 3 More Brown, Ada Elene Texas, N 8 6 93 5 More Dimitrouleas, William P. Fla, S 7 8 222 - More Bunning, David L. Ken, E 7 8 53 67 More Goldsmith, Mark Allan Mich, E 7 8 - 412 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 6 judges were from other districts.
Judge Silvia Luisa Carreņo-Coll in the District of Puerto Rico ranked 1st with 43 defendants in cases.
Judge Debra Marie Brown in the Northern District of Mississippi (Oxford) ranked 2nd with 15 defendants in cases.
Judge Philip A. Brimmer in the District of Colorado ranked 3rd with 13 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: December 8, 2025
