We're No. 8!
Drug prosecutions down this month -- but that's not the whole story
By Jordan Smith, 9:26AM, Wed. Oct. 10, 2007
According to our friends at the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University (who spend their days pursuing and crunching mass amounts of federal data, bless their hearts) federal drug prosecutions in June dropped 16.8% over the previous month, with the feds reporting 1,058 new drug cases. Moreover, TRAC reports that federal drug prosecutions dropped nearly 7% over last year.
Still, don’t go getting any crazy ideas – like, that the feds aren’t still dogging drug users. In fact, fully 32% of June cases were handled by U.S. Magistrate Courts, which handle less serious crimes – including “petty offenses” like simple possession. Interestingly, Texas’ Western District, which includes Austin, has fallen from the No. 1 most active judicial district, per capita, for drug prosecutions last year to No. 8, behind comers Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana.
Got something to say on the subject? Send a letter to the editor.
A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.
Richard Whittaker, Aug. 25, 2017
Richard Whittaker, July 7, 2016
Kevin Curtin, April 20, 2021
Austin Sanders, July 2, 2020
May 22, 2014
Courts, Marijuana, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University