Cotton has argued that rates of murder and other violent crime have decreased so much since the 1990s because of "higher mandatory minimums put in place in the 1980s coupled with vigilant policing strategies pioneered by Rudy Giuliani and other American mayors and law enforcement officials.
On the day that the bill was introduced, Molly Gill, of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, said that "it doesn’t go as far as we would like.
"[12] On October 3, 2015, Marc Mauer, the executive director of the Sentencing Project, told NPR that the bill "is the most substantial criminal justice reform legislation introduced since the inception of the 'tough on crime' movement that brought crimes rate drastically down over the last decades.
"[4] On October 17, 2017, National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell and Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin penned a letter in support of the legislation, writing that the bill would "increase rehabilitation.
"[15] In March 2016, Marc Morial, the president of the National Urban League, asked Congress to delay action on both the House and Senate versions of the bill until the information could be obtained on its possible effects on blacks and Hispanics.