Passage of the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) in 2010 reduced the 100-to-1 powder-crack cocaine quantity ratio to 18-to-1 to lessen the disparity between powder and crack cocaine sentences. Prior to FSA, individuals sentenced for 5 g of crack cocaine received similar sentences to those sentenced for 500 g of powder cocaine. The current study examined federal cocaine sentences both before and after the FSA. Specifically, it explored if the FSA has an impact on the influence of race/ethnicity and drug-related variables on the decision to incarcerate, incarceration length, and receiving a downward departure. Using data from the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) for the years 2005–2009 (pre-FSA) and 2011–2015 (post-FSA), results showed an overall decrease in the number of federal cocaine cases and average incarceration length after passage of the FSA. These findings revealed that FSA is continuing the efforts to reduce the sentencing disparity between federal crack and powder cocaine offenses. However, results seemed to suggest that the policy may exacerbate racial and ethnic disparity in federal cocaine cases through use of downward departures.

2010 年通过的《公平量刑法》 (FSA) 将 100 比 1 的粉末可卡因数量比例降低到 18 比 1，以减少粉末和可卡因量刑之间的差异。在 FSA 之前，因 5 克可卡因被判刑的人与因 500 克粉末可卡因被判刑的人相似。目前的研究检查了 FSA 之前和之后的联邦可卡因判决。具体来说，它探讨了 FSA 是否会影响种族/民族和毒品相关变量对监禁决定、监禁时间和接受向下离开的影响。使用美国量刑委员会 (USSC) 2005-2009 年（FSA 前）和 2011-2015 年（FSA 后）的数据，结果显示，通过 FSA 后，联邦可卡因案件数量和平均监禁时间总体下降。这些调查结果表明，FSA 正在继续努力减少联邦可卡因和粉末可卡因犯罪之间的量刑差异。然而，结果似乎表明，该政策可能会通过使用向下偏离来加剧联邦可卡因案件中的种族和民族差异。