Fifty years ago, U.S. Army Lt. William Calley was found guilty of committing 22 premeditated murders during a massacre by U.S. forces in the Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai. A platoon leader who had led his soldiers into the undefended village, Calley stood ramrod stiff as he listened to the jury’s verdict in his court martial. Face flushed, he offered a crooked salute after the verdict was read.

Democrats in the House of Representatives have handed President Joe Biden a golden opportunity to demonstrate that he is serious about healing the nation’s most bitter political divisions. Unfortunately, it’s not clear he realizes it.

The United States has made some progress in reducing the shockingly large share of the population that lives behind bars, mostly by dialing back the War on Drugs. Building on this progress requires similar changes in the treatment of nonviolent property crime.