NCJ Number
180539
Date Published
January 1998
Length
91 pages
Annotation
This updated compendium of case law summaries explains the facts, findings, and rulings in Federal and State court decisions on assets forfeiture.
Abstract
This compendium is a companion to the National Criminal Justice Association's instructional guide to forfeiture, "Assets Seizure and Forfeiture: Developing and Maintaining a State Capability." During the past 20 years, assets forfeiture has come into prominent use by law enforcement officials at all levels of government, particularly in conjunction with criminal investigations that involve drug trafficking. Forfeiture has become the most effective tool for attacking the profit motive behind the crime. It provides a means of depriving the criminal of the resources needed to pursue criminal activity. At the same time, the successful conclusion of a forfeiture proceeding may generate considerable funds and other resources that can be turned back into law enforcement operations. As it has increased in use, however, forfeiture has been challenged in the court to limit its application. In these court challenges, forfeiture has been scrutinized under the standards of several of this country's constitutional principles, namely, protections against excessive fines, self-incrimination, and double jeopardy. This compendium of cases provides analyses of topical legal issues related to assets forfeiture and includes representative court decisions on the application of the due process clause to asset forfeiture procedures, the establishment of the link between property and crime proceeds, the "innocent owner" defense, the substantial connection requirement, self-incrimination, double jeopardy and collateral estoppel, and the excessive fines clause of the Eighth Amendment. In instances in which various courts have come to different conclusions on a particular issue, the compendium includes decisions that reflect the various approaches the courts have taken.