NCJ Number
166104
Journal
Criminal Law Bulletin Volume: 32 Issue: 6 Dated: (November-December 1996) Pages: 499-540
Date Published
1996
Length
42 pages
Annotation
Criminal forfeiture is examined in terms of its advantages over civil forfeiture for the government and the defendant, the issues that arise if the rights of third parties are involved, and the case law on the subject.
Abstract
Civil forfeiture and criminal forfeiture each have advantages, but civil forfeiture provides the better mechanism for addressing the rights of third parties with an interest in the property. However, the government recently has begun to do more forfeiture as part of the criminal case to accomplish its goal in a single proceeding instead of two separate ones. However, a third party may have part or sole ownership in the property used in the crime. Issues being litigated include when third parties can adjudicate their interests in the forfeited property, whether the government can restrain property in a third party's name before trial to make sure that it does not disappear, and the procedural mechanism for resolving third-party interests. Additional issues include whether victims can challenge the forfeiture and obtain the property for themselves and whether the government can obtain property the defendant has already disbursed to someone else. The current law has many ambiguities that courts will have to address. It is also likely that Congress will have to resolve many of the issues that were unforeseen when the criminal forfeiture laws were enacted. Footnotes