Convictions for March 2025
Referring Agency: Federal Bureau of Investigation
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during March 2025 the government reported 1152 new convictions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 36.2 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 only slightly down (-1.5%). 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 1 percent from levels reported in 2020.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Convictions
The leveling out 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 March 2025 was for "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force", accounting for 14.7 percent of convictions. Convictions were also filed for "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (12.7%), "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major" (12%), "Project Safe Childhood" (11.8%), "Violence-Other" (6.9%), "Fraud-Other" (6.3%), "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (5.7%), "Violence-Indian Country" (5.4%), "Other Criminal Prosecutions" (3.5%), "Fraud-Federal Program" (2.5%), "Bank Robbery" (2.3%). See Figure 2.
Convictions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In March 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 March 2025, 1150 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during March 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 March.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the convictions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during March 2025 referred by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 184 1 1 1 More 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 116 2 3 3 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 95 3 2 2 More 18 USC 1343 - Fraud by wire, radio, or television 84 4 4 7 More 18 USC 2252 - Material involving sexual exploitation of minors 39 6 5 6 More 18 USC 2250 - Fail to register as sex offender after traveling interstate commerce 37 7 12 13 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 32 8 7 5 More 18 USC 2113 - Bank robbery and incidental crimes 31 9 5 4 More 18 USC 1344 - Bank Fraud 23 10 15 12 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 "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 3 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "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.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in convictions — up 30 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 18 U.S.C Section 1344 that involves " Bank Fraud ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 103.6 percent — was registered for convictions under "Other US Code Section " (Title U.S.C Section ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in convictions compared to one year ago — down 26.3 percent — was " Bank robbery and incidental crimes " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 2113 ). This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 56.9 % — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In March 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government obtained 412 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 Montana 4,343 41 1 16 18 More D. C. 3,358 19 2 1 51 More W Virg, N 3,110 24 3 78 83 More Wyoming 2,260 11 4 86 89 More N Dakota 2,143 14 5 48 70 More Okla, E 1,771 11 6 33 80 More La, E 1,610 22 7 27 76 More Ala, N 1,577 40 8 54 67 More N. Y., S 1,463 63 9 7 3 More S Dakota 1,457 11 10 30 32 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The District of Montana — with 4343 convictions as compared with 412 convictions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during March 2025.
The District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) ranked 2nd. The District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) was ranked 1 a year ago.
Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Montana , now ranked 1st , and Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans) at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 16th and 27th one year ago and 18th and 76th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of convictions compared to one year ago — 417.6 percent — was Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling). This was the same district that had the largest increase — 700 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of convictions — 50.6 percent — was Washington, D.C. (Washington). But over the past five years, South Dakota showed the largest drop — 19.3 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 March 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank Morris, Brian Matthew Montana 15 1 More Kleeh, Thomas Shawn W Virg, N 14 2 More Coogler, L. Scott Ala, N 13 3 More Watters, Susan Pamela Montana 12 4 More Carr, James G. Ohio, N 12 4 More Osteen, William Lindsay, Jr. N Car, M 11 6 More Zainey, Jay C. La, E 10 7 More Pittman, Mark Timothy Texas, N 10 7 More Stadtmueller, Joseph Peter Wisc, E 10 7 More Edmunds, Nancy Garlock Mich, E 9 10 More Roman, Nelson Stephen N. Y., S 9 10 More Jordan, Sean D. Texas, E 9 10 More Groh, Gina Marie W Virg, N 9 10 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 7 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. (Because of ties, there were a total of 13 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Brian Matthew Morris in the District of Montana ranked 1st with 15 convicted in convictions.
Judge Thomas Shawn Kleeh in the Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling) ranked 2nd with 14 convicted in convictions.
Judge L. Scott Coogler in the Northern District of Alabama (Birmingham) ranked 3rd with 13 convicted in convictions.
Report Generated: May 14, 2025
