Stinting on Mercy

President Bush and an absence of compassion

PRESIDENT BUSH showed a modicum of courage and compassion last month when he commuted the sentence of Maryland resident Michael Dwayne Short. Mr. Short had no prior record when he was arrested in 1989 and charged as a relatively minor player in a D.C. crack cocaine ring. Because of the absurdity of the crack laws, Mr. Short was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison. President Bush's commutation allows Mr. Short to regain his freedom in February, shaving 14 months off his sentence.

Mr. Bush is to be commended for intervening, even though he did so deep into Mr. Short's prison term. But the gesture falls woefully flat. This is only the fifth commutation Mr. Bush has issued since taking office in 2001. There are thousands of prisoners rotting behind bars for nonviolent drug offenses. Surely some of them deserve at least as much mercy as Mr. Short.

Mr. Bush followed a more familiar pattern in his pardons of 29 other federal convicts. These required no political courage. They were, as has been Mr. Bush's habit, safe and predictable. Many of those pardoned were convicted on minor drug charges -- before the draconian federal laws kicked in -- and served either brief sentences or none at all. Several of the crimes occurred decades ago, one as far back as 1959. Pardons were doled out for such things as producing moonshine, running an illegal gambling house or stealing U.S. mail.

Mr. Bush continues his run as one of the stingiest presidents in American history when it comes to pardons. Since taking office, he has granted 142; the only president with fewer was George H.W. Bush, who granted 74 pardons in four years in office. Compare that with the 396 pardons approved by Bill Clinton and the almost identical 393 by Ronald Reagan -- not a president known to be soft on crime.

It is curious that a president as enthusiastic as Mr. Bush is about flaunting his presidential powers in affairs both domestic and foreign refuses to use one of the most noble to recalibrate the machinery of justice when it dispenses punishment that does not fit the crime. It is sadder still when this kind of corrective is withheld by a self-described "compassionate conservative."