What is civil forfeiture?
There are two kinds of forfeiture: criminal and civil. The former is part of a criminal case against a defendant. The other is an entirely separate civil action. While there is a parallel criminal arrest and prosecution, in the overwhelming majority of civil forfeiture cases, there are important reasons why the government must have civil forfeiture, in addition to criminal. First, criminal forfeiture is unavailable if the defendant is dead or is a fugitive. There is simply no criminal case in which to pursue forfeiture. Second, a majority of forfeiture cases are uncontested, often because the defendant sees no point in claiming property that connects him to the crime. Civil forfeiture allows disposal of these cases administratively. Third, criminal forfeiture statutes are not comprehensive. Some cases must be done civilly simply because there is no criminal forfeiture statute. Fourth, criminal forfeiture in a federal case requires a federal conviction. If the defendant was convicted in
Civil forfeiture is similar in many ways to criminal forfeiture. However, while criminal forfeiture means to impose an additional penalty upon the owner of property for his wrongful conduct, a civil forfeiture action is brought against the property itself. (You will see funny case names arising from civil forfeiture cases, such as “United States v 336 Willow Street”.) For criminal forfeiture to result, the owner of the property must be convicted of a crime, whereas civil forfeiture can occur even if the owner is acquitted. In some cases, the property owner won’t even be charged with a crime. Civil forfeiture actions must demonstrate “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the property has a sufficient relationship to illegal activity to justify its forfeiture under the law.
