Criminal forfeiture is the taking away of someone’s property by the State, due to his association to any criminal activity.
A court at the time of delivering a sentence in the case of a conviction arising out of forfeiture, order that the person surrender to the US any property which is involved in such offence. Criminal forfeiture is thus a punitive action initiated by the government against the wrong doer.
The forfeiture of property involves any seizure and disposition of the property and any related judicial proceeding, is governed by the provisions of section 413 of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act.
According to former President George Bush, "Asset forfeiture laws allow the government to take the ill-gotten gains of drug kingpins and use them to put more cops on the streets."
The defendant in a criminal forfeiture case must take on the burden of proving that the property did not have the needed connection to the crime in order to shun the sentence.
(More: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sup_01_18_10_I_20_46.html)
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