This study uses 16 years (2002–2017) of federal criminal drug sentences from the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) to examine trends in two criminal sentencing outcomes: whether a defendant received a prison sentence and the length of a prison sentence. Logistic and ordinary least squares regression analyses were used to assess criminal sentencing outcomes. Moderation analyses are conducted to assess variation in sentencing for specific drug offenses over time. Results demonstrate that sentencing for federal drug crimes has become less severe over time. However, there is substantial heterogeneity in sentencing across different drug types, with pharmaceutical opioid cases receiving the least leniency over time regarding the incarceration decision and methamphetamine cases experiencing the lowest reduction in the length of prison sentences from 2002 to 2017. Finally, our analysis stratified by race/ethnicity suggested that there is heterogeneity in sentencing outcomes for federal drug offenders, conditional on racial and ethnic background.

中文翻译：

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联邦毒品犯罪者量刑趋势：美国地方法院 2002-2017 年的调查结果

本研究使用美国量刑委员会 (USSC) 16 年（2002 年至 2017 年）的联邦刑事毒品判决来研究两种刑事判决结果的趋势：被告是否被判刑和刑期长短。Logistic 和普通最小二乘回归分析用于评估刑事判决结果。进行缓和分析以评估特定毒品犯罪的量刑随时间的变化。结果表明，随着时间的推移，对联邦毒品犯罪的判决已经变得不那么严厉了。然而，不同药物类型的量刑存在很大差异，