NCJ Number
131836
Journal
Beverly Hills Bar Association Journal Volume: 24 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1990) Pages: 120-130
Date Published
1990
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Individual rights and freedoms are discussed in terms of the impacts of civil forfeiture laws, the constitutional issues involved in their use, their application in drug law enforcement, and special problems involved in civil forfeitures of real property interests.
Abstract
The Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act and the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 give Federal agents the ability to seize assets through both civil and criminal procedures. The civil provisions present many opportunities to limit the individual rights related to search and seizure, the right to counsel, the right to jury trial, and the proportionality of punishment. Real property involves special problems, because drug transactions or other illegal activity anywhere on a property justifies the seizure of the entire property. Therefore, real property lienholders, owners, lessors, and lessees must take special care to investigate those they allow on their property and to avoid deliberately ignoring signs of illegal activity. Otherwise, their real property interests could become subject to forfeiture. Footnotes