Washington (CNN) Returning to the pages of the prestigious law journal he once edited, President Barack Obama sought to crystallize his efforts toward a fairer justice system in an article Thursday, offering recommendations to a successor who few are confident will uphold his efforts.

Obama's dense and scholarly piece in the Harvard Law Review, running almost 60 pages with extensive footnotes and citations, offers a summation of his work toward reforming the way Americans are sentenced and imprisoned. It also spells out prescriptions for future presidents, despite the tough-on-crime rhetoric that President-elect Donald Trump espoused on the campaign trail last year.

Obama is expected in the coming days to take further action in reducing sentences for non-violent drug offenders, part of a broader unilateral effort to ease harsh punishments. In his tenure, Obama has reduced the sentences of more than 1,000 non-violent drug offenders, far surpassing other recent presidents, who used their commutation powers more sparingly.

In his efforts, Obama has focused intently on reducing sentences for people convinced of crack-related crimes, which carry sentences that far exceed those for powdered cocaine. The disparity has overwhelmingly affected African-Americans.

"We cannot deny the legacy of racism that continues to drive inequality in how the justice system is experienced by so many Americans," the President wrote in the article Thursday.

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