Over the past year, a great deal of unwarranted criticism has been hurled at the government’s lawful ability to forfeit the tools and ill-gotten gains of criminals. Although forfeiture’s critics are entitled to their own opinions, they are not entitled to their own facts.
Forfeiture is the legal means the government uses to separate criminals from the tools of their trade and the proceeds from their crimes. In cases involving victims, property forfeited from criminals generally goes directly to compensating those victims. In relatively few cases, civil forfeiture is used instead of criminal forfeiture to target property that is proven to be linked to criminal activity even though the criminals themselves may escape prosecution.