He’s managed to reduce the prison population while keeping crime low, and he’s not alone. A Pew Charitable Trust study reports that from 2008 to 2013 the 10 states that instituted prison reforms and cut their incarceration rates the most saw a greater drop in crime rates than the 10 states that increased their prison populations most. 

Now Congress is catching up. Two of the most significant proposals are the Smarter Sentencing Act, which would reduce the length of mandatory minimum sentences, and the Corrections Act, which would encourage programs aimed at reducing recidivism. It tells you something about what’s possible that the former is co-sponsored by Republican Mike Lee of Utah and Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois, while the latter is the joint effort of conservative John Cornyn of Texas and liberal Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. 

One way for the President to kill this opportunity would be with more of the executive grandstanding that has poisoned the well on immigration and so many other issues. The President’s decision Monday to commute the sentences for 46 federal prisoners is within his constitutional authority. But if he wants more than political gestures, he’ll work with Congress for lasting changes in law rather than issue executive orders.

Reform is possible now in part because crime rates have fallen so far from their heights 20 or 30 years ago. The causes are many but they include the success of such conservative policies as broken-windows policing and incarcerating repeat offenders.

Conservative have come to appreciate that too many people are in prison, but liberals should acknowledge the success of conservative policing. That means not using every racially charged incident as an opportunity to demonize police or handcuff pro-active policing in high-crime neighborhoods. Maybe Mr. Obama should give his next speech highlighting anti-crime success.