"Mass incarceration isn’t always the issue. Uneven incarceration is."

Doug Berman has this post at Sentencing Law & Policy, excerpting and commenting on a piece in the Washington Post. From his comment:

I commend this commentary for noting that "we are doing better" on crime and punishment in the US, while also noting that we also still have way too much violent crime and way too much prison punishment in our nation.  These realities should call for, especially after the last few days of hate-fueled crimes, some real soul-searching about what makes America less than great on these metrics.  I certainly have some thoughts on some factors that I think fuel these realities (e.g., disparities, drugs, guns, leadership), but what I think is most important is that any and everyone concerned about either crime or punishment give real thought to the progress we are making and how far we still have to go even when merely compared to any comparable nation.