The House's new Over-Criminalization Task Force held its second hearing last week, focusing on a narrow aspect of overcriminalization. But if the task force wants to make a dent on overincarceration, they must instead focus on the policies responsible for creating too many crimes and overly harsh sentences.

Despite recent tragic acts of violence, nationwide crime is at a 30-year low. We would be wise to seize this opportunity to introduce much-needed rationality into criminal justice policy.

Improving access to stable housing is critical to supporting successful reentry of the formerly incarcerated. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development needs to provide stronger guidance to help minimize exclusions of those with criminal records from public housing.

As the nation girds itself for across the board budget cuts, Chettiar and Nadelmann point out that the Justice Department has an opportunity to rethink outdated policies that simply don’t work and waste money.