Reagan signs Sentencing Reform Act, eliminating federal parole

President Reagan signed the Comprehensive Crime Control Act, including the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, eliminating federal parole and creating the U.S. Sentencing Commission to establish binding sentencing guidelines. Senators Ted Kennedy and Strom Thurmond co-sponsored the legislation in a bipartisan endorsement of "truth in sentencing." The Act required all federal sentences to be served without early release, creating the framework into which §924(c) firearm stacking would later fit.