NCJ Number
95918
Date Published
1984
Length
17 pages
Annotation
The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, approved as Title II of House Joint Resolution 648, contains the most significant changes in the Federal criminal justice system ever enacted at one time.
Abstract
Conceptually, the act can be divided into 2 portions; the most important reforms are in the first 12 chapters. These contain a complete revision of the Federal bail laws to permit the courts to consider the defendant's danger to Federal sentencing system to eliminate parole and to narrow the discretion that judges have in sentencing. Additionally, these chapters strengthen the forfeiture laws and narrow the use of the insanity defense. They strengthen the penalties applicable to narcotics offenses, facilitate the donation of surplus Federal property to State and local governments for new prison construction, provide for modest financial assistance to States and municipalities to help finance anticrime programs, amend substantive or procedural provisions in the Federal criminal code to close identified gaps, and add new offenses that are needed to proscribe new forms of criminal activity. The remaining chapters were added primarily by Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee, and deal with such matters as credit card fraud and computer crimes.