Crime and Forfeiture

Forfeiture has long been an effective law enforcement tool. Congress and state legislatures have authorised its use for over two hundred years. Every year it redirects property worth hundreds of millions of dollars from criminal to lawful uses. Forfeiture law has always been somewhat unique. Legislative bodies, commentators and the courts, however, had begun to examine its eccentricities in greater detail because under some circumstances it could be not only harsh but unfair. The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act, P.L. 106-185, 114 Stat. 202 (2000) is a product of that re-examination.