Convictions for September 2025
Referring Agency: Drug Enforcement Administration
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2025 the government reported 824 new convictions 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 25.8 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 down (-8.9%). 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 30.3 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 September 2025 was for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking", accounting for 54.4 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (35.6%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (4.1%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (3.5%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In September 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 September 2025, 823 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September 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 September.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions 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 464 1 1 1 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 229 2 2 2 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 22 4 3 3 More 21 USC 963 - Attempt and conspiracy 14 5 6 9 More 18 USC 1956 - Laundering of monetary instruments 8 6 8 7 More 21 USC 959 - Possession, manufacture, or distribution for purpo 5 7 9 14 More 46 USC 70503 - Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US 5 7 7 6 More 18 USC 371 - Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud US 4 9 15 26 More 18 USC 1349 - Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy 3 10 29 26 More 46 USC 70506 - Penalties 3 10 5 14 More Table 2. Top Charges for Convictions
"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 "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section. "Other US Code Section" under Title U.S.C Section 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 convictions — up 400 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1349 that involves " Mail Fraud - Attempt and Conspiracy ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 700 percent — was registered for convictions under " Possession, manufacture, or distribution for purpo " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 959 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago — down 72.2 percent — was " Penalties " (Title 46 U.S.C Section 70506 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in convictions — 15.4 percent — was for convictions where the lead charge was " Possession control substance on vessel subject to jurisdiction of US " (Title 46 U.S.C Section 70503 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In September 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government obtained 294.9 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.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago W Virg, N 1,555 12 1 31 72 More S Dakota 1,192 9 2 40 41 More Mo, E 1,113 27 3 10 13 More Vermont 1,112 6 4 86 60 More Ala, S 1,105 8 5 81 48 More Alaska 1,025 6 6 68 89 More Ill, S 989 10 7 45 16 More Texas, N 977 63 8 4 1 More Okla, N 866 8 9 15 79 More Hawaii 753 9 10 74 89 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) — with 1555 convictions as compared with 294.9 convictions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during September 2025.
The District of South Dakota ranked 2nd.
Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) is now ranking 3rd. The Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis) was ranked 10 a year ago.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Northern District of Oklahoma (Tulsa), now ranked 9th , and Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) at 1st In the same order, these districts ranked 15th and 31st one year ago and 79th and 72nd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago — 125 percent — was Vermont . Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 1000 percent — was Alaska .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions — 46.7 percent — was Northern District of Oklahoma (Tulsa). But over the past five years, Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) showed the largest drop — 40.1 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 resulting in convictions of this type during September 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Jordan, Sean D. Texas, E 10 1 More Hendrix, James Wesley Texas, N 10 1 More Polster, Dan A. Ohio, N 9 3 More Barker, J. Campbell Texas, E 9 3 More Pitman, Robert Texas, W 9 3 More Breyer, Charles R. Cal, N 8 6 More Autrey, Henry Edward Mo, E 8 6 More Lynn, Barbara M. Texas, N 8 6 More Kinkeade, James E. Texas, N 8 6 More Morales, David Steven Texas, S 8 6 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 convictions per capita, while the remaining 6 judges were from other districts.
Judges Sean D. Jordan in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) and James Wesley Hendrix in the Northern District of Texas (Fort Worth) ranked 1st with 10 convicted in convictions.
Judges Dan A. Polster in the Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland), J. Campbell Barker in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) and Robert Pitman in the Western District of Texas (San Antonio) ranked 3rd with 9 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: December 8, 2025
