Asset Forfeiture: Talking Points

Why Law Enforcement Uses Forfeiture

• To confiscate contraband (drugs, obscene matter, explosives, counterfeit money)
• To take the instrumentalities of crime (guns, crack houses, airplanes) out of circulation so they can’t be used again
• To seize criminal proceeds — to take the profit out of crime
• Deterrence: criminals are often more concerned with losing their "toys" (fancy cars and boats; jewelry; vacation homes) than with serving time in jail
• To get the property back to victims

Why Law Enforcement Needs Civil Forfeiture If It Already Has Criminal Forfeiture

• Criminal forfeiture is useless if the criminal is dead or is a fugitive; civil forfeiture is the only way to recover the assets of a Colombia drug dealer who cannot be extradited or who is killed in a shoot-out with the police
• Criminal forfeiture is limited to the property of the defendant. If we convict a pilot for smuggling drugs, we can forfeit the airplane only if the pilot owns it. If the airplane belongs to his wife, to his partner, or to a South American corporation, there can be no criminal forfeiture. We must file a civil case to give the owner an opportunity to file a claim.
• Civil forfeiture is the only way to seize drug money carried by a courier when there is no way to know which drug dealer it belongs to. Eighty-five percent of such civil forfeiture cases are uncontested. Without civil forfeiture, the money would have to be released to the courier.
• Civil forfeiture is the only way to shut down a crack house or confiscate any other property owned a person who allows others to use it illegally, but who commits no crime himself. A crack house cannot be forfeited criminally, even if the tenants are convicted, because they do not own the property. The only sanction against the landlord who knowingly allows tenants to distribute drugs on his property is civil forfeiture.
• We need civil forfeiture to handle uncontested cases. Over 80 percent of our cases involve a parallel arrest or prosecution, but most of the time, the defendant in jail sees no point in claiming property. Civil forfeiture allows the forfeiture of that property by default, without having to wait months or years for the criminal conviction.
• Congress has not enacted criminal forfeiture statutes for most offenses. The only way, under federal law, to forfeit property in firearms, gambling, counterfeiting, alien smuggling and many other cases is through civil forfeiture.
• Criminal forfeiture requires federal conviction. In many of our cases, the criminal is prosecuted in state court. In such cases, we can only do the forfeiture civilly.
• The ends of justice don’t always require conviction. There is often no reason to incarcerate the wife of a drug dealer who plays a minor role in the offense, but she should not be allowed to keep the property she willingly used in the crime. If a teenager uses his computer to counterfeit $20 bills, confiscation of the computer — through civil forfeiture — is the appropriate punishment. There is no reason to give the teenager a criminal record.

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