Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984
The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 was the first comprehensive revision of the U.S. criminal code since the early 1900s. It was sponsored by Strom Thurmond in the Senate and by Hamilton Fish IV in the House of Representatives|House], and was eventually incorporated into an appropriations bill that passed with a vote of 78–11 in the Senate and 252–60 in the House. It was then signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. Among its constituent parts and provisions were:
- Armed Career Criminal Act
- Sentencing Reform Act which created the United States Sentencing Commission, intended to standardize sentencing
- Extension of the Secret Service's jurisdiction over credit card fraud and computer fraud
- Increased federal penalties for cultivation, possession, or transfer of marijuana
- A new section in the criminal code for hostage taking
- Abolished parole for federal prisoners convicted after November 1, 1987
- Made several new offenses federal crimes, including arson, murder-for-hire, trademark violations, credit card fraud, and computer crime
- Stipulations about using civil forfeiture to seize assets of organized crime, establishing "equitable sharing."
Background
Attempts by Congress to make changes to the U.S. Criminal Code began again in the early congressional meetings of 1971, after almost a half-century of only minor amendments and additions. A major qualm still present in the early 1970s with the U.S. Criminal Code was the issues of sentencing disparity and the parole system. In 1975, Sen. Edward Kennedy introduced a bill to Congress attempting to modify this existing issue in the judicial system through the creation of a sentencing committee. This resulted in backlash from experts for lacking crucial details on the issue.In 1977, Kennedy began to gain supporters to revise the U.S. Criminal Code, gathering the support of Sen. John McClellan first, and in later years Sen. Strom Thurmond and Orrin G. Hatch. At the beginning of 1979, Thurmond and Kennedy introduced new and revised Senate bill, in attempts to persuade the interests of the House, which had previously struck down U.S. Criminal Code revision proposals. During this time, the House had proposed Criminal Code revision legislation of its own that was met with intense criticism from interest groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, and justice officials.
In August of 1979, Rep. Robert Drinan announced to media that the House and Senate judiciary committees had agreed on the major chapters that would frame the reformation of the Criminal Code. These presented chapters would contribute to the subject layout within the final proposed legislation in 1984.
Legislative History (1983-1984)
As the Judiciary Committees of the House and Senate continued their intense back-and-forth, Reagan continued to push efforts to pass a crime reform bill in his presidency. At the 1983 State of the Union address Reagan stated that crime was a top priority. Despite a crime bill being presented by Congress in 1982, it was pocket vetoed by the President on January 14th, 1983, due to the proposed bill's creation of a new powerful office for drug law enforcement.Congress once more took on the task of creating amendments within the crime bill that would not only suit the House and the Senate, but also take into account the amendments pressed by Reagan. In his memorandum of disapproval, Reagan expressed to Congress to present a new crime bill that, unlike that which was previously presented, would focus more on the details of bail and sentencing reform in addition to creating a way to deal with foreign and domestic drug efforts without creating a new bureaucratic agency.
Finally, in September of 1984, the House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Dan Lungren proposed attaching House Joint Resolution 5963— a major crime bill similar to one presented in a proposed Senate crime package that had not been approved— to House Resolution 648, an appropriations resolution for the fiscal year of 1985. This proposal was approved in a bipartisan vote on October 4th by the Senate. October 10th and 11th presented agreements from the House and Senate on conference reports for HJ Res 648, thus pushing it to President Reagan's desk to be signed into law on October 12th.