NCJ Number
146718
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 61 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1994) Pages: 14-22
Date Published
1994
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The author discusses the major legal challenges that currently confront the Federal forfeiture program.
Abstract
Asset forfeiture means government seizing of illegally used or acquired property upon an initial showing of probable cause, without criminal conviction as a prerequisite. It is especially useful in combating drug traffickers, who have and need massive assets, and are often highly mobile and difficult to apprehend. Exaggerated concern over government abuses of power may lead to a severe curbing of asset forfeiture in the near future. The issue of what constitutes probable cause has received much judicial scrutiny. In numerous cases, the Supreme Court has ruled that an adoption of a State or local seizure by a Federal agency is unauthorized without a State court turnover order. It also has expanded the scope of the "innocent owner" defense such that third party claims to a seized property more easily supersede those of the government; and has applied Eighth Amendment proportionality rules, which heretofore had been applicable only in criminal cases, to civil forfeiture cases. To maintain the effectiveness of the forfeiture program, law enforcement officers must make every effort to observe the highest standards of conduct. The 10- item National Code of Professional Conduct for Asset Forfeiture is presented. 16 endnotes