It’s Time for a New Crime Bill

It’s time for Democrats to propose a new crime bill.

No, not one like the original 1994 crime bill, famously spearheaded by President Joe Biden when he was a senator. While the role that piece of legislation played in fueling mass incarceration has often been exaggerated, its emphasis on building new prisons and nudging states to adopt harsher criminal penalties effectively doubled down on America’s unnecessarily punitive approach to justice and public safety.

Democrats don’t want to—and shouldn’t—do that. Instead, the party should cue up a more enlightened sequel full of...