Over the past 25 years, the United States has enjoyed a steady and dramatic drop in crime. This broad-scale enhancement of public safety has reaped immeasurable benefits in terms of lives saved, strengthened communities and economic revitalization. But those gains may be lost if the U.S. Senate passes the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act. This bill would cut mandatory minimum sentences, make thousands of violent criminals eligible for release from prison, and ultimately make America more dangerous.

As a larger debate over criminal justice reform unfolds, it is important to understand what exactly this bill will do and clarify a few misconceptions. First, the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act threatens to put thousands of criminals back on our streets. These sentence reductions will apply not to first-time offenders, but to repeat offenders — felons who have made the conscious choice to commit crimes over and over again. And they will not apply just to so-called “non-violent offenders,” but to thousands of violent felons and armed career criminals who have used firearms in the course of their drug felonies or crimes of violence. The list of eligible prisoners also includes: felons convicted as juveniles of murder, rape, assault or other crimes for which they were justly tried as adults, and repeat felons whose past crimes include kidnapping, carjacking and armed robbery.