“This year, Democrats see a window opening to address two major symptoms of that struggle: the harm caused by mandatory minimum sentencing and America’s addiction to heroin. Both are problems cities like Baltimore have grappled with for decades.
“A reform of the strict sentencing laws that led to overpopulation of America’s prisons has a real chance of moving in Congress this year. And heroin’s infiltration of rural and suburban towns is bringing to the table lawmakers who previously dismissed the need for sentencing reform, afraid they’d appear too soft on crime.”