A few days before he left office, President Biden commuted the sentences of about 2,500 drug offenders. The grant of clemency, Biden explained, “provides relief for individuals who received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes.” Those distinctions in turn created disparities between African Americans and whites throughout the criminal justice system.

A striking contrast to controversial, cringeworthy and contemptible presidential pardons and commutations recently granted to family members, donors, celebrities, political allies and supporters, Biden’s action addressed misguided government policies that have persisted for decades. It also highlighted the damage politicians do when they feed and fuel voters’ fears of violent crime waves in their communities.

As Biden no doubt recalls, he once boasted that every crime bill passed by Congress since 1976 “has had the name of the Democratic senator from the state of........

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