Sanders did not vote for the bill because of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) nor the assault weapons ban — that's the popular Sanders supporter rationale and falsehood.
In October 1993, Jack Brooks of Texas introduced the original Violent Crime and Control Law Enforcement Act of 1994. This version didn’t include an assault weapons ban nor protections for women, both of which Sanders and his apologists have tried to play off as why he voted for the Crime bill. Sanders voted for that bill, HR 4092, in the House, before the VAWA or the assault weapons ban were added into it. Here's the text of that: https://www.congress.gov/bill/103rd-congress/house-bill/4092/text And Sanders' recorded Yes (Aye) vote on that version: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1994/roll144.xml The provisions which his supporters use to try and excuse Sanders were added in the Senate when Sanders was, at that time, in the House. Sanders had already voted for the earlier House Conference version.
As others have noted, the bulk of the African American and other minority communities (including Congress members) pushed for and wanted this bill. Those who supported and voted for it were trying to address a wildfire of crime and violence that was disproportionally impacting African American communities and killing African Americans. The bill had longer-term, unintended consequences which the Clintons (even though Hillary didn't actually vote on the bill), most of the supporters of the legislation, as well as Sanders recognize and want to make changes to the law and policies to help mitigate those unintended consequences.
President Bill Clinton made attempts to soften the bill:
Clinton also tried to contain the Senate’s more conservative impulses, successfully narrowing the scope of its “three strikes” mandatory life sentence provision in the final version. “We shouldn't litter it up with every offense in the world,” Clinton admonished, saying it should focus on the “relatively small number of people that are wreaking heartbreak and devastation and death.”
Clinton’s efforts to soften the Senate version and include prevention programs won support for the bill from several members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The caucus chairman said at the end of the process, “We have put our stamp on this bill.”
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/02/22/dont_punish_clinton_sanders_for_1994_crime_bill_129729.html
Further, as noted in Mother Jones, statistics show the 1994 crime bill "didn't create the carceral state or even give it much of a boost. That had happened many years before."
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/02/get-your-memes-right-1994-crime-bill-didnt-create-mass-incarceration
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