To the Editor:

Re “A New Platform in District Attorney Races: End Mass Incarceration” (news article, Oct. 26):

It is a sign of how harsh prosecution practices have become that declining to prosecute low-level offenses like disturbing the peace or possession of small amounts of marijuana is seen as bold and progressive.

Those tepid reforms have no effect on the 2.3 million people behind bars in the United States. If prosecutors truly wanted to redress the last several decades of mass incarceration, they could start by declining the longstanding, knee-jerk practice of opposing parole and clemency for the countless number of people who should be released from prison.

Steven Zeidman

Long Island City, Queens

The writer is a professor at the CUNY School of Law.