U.S. Department
of Justice
Attorney General Sessions Issues Policy and Guidelines on Federal Adoptions of Assets Seized by State or Local Law Enforcement
Attorney General Sessions held a meeting with law enforcement officials to discuss the Department of Justice’s new policy on civil asset forfeiture.
Photo credit: Amy Mathers for the Department of Justice
"Civil asset forfeiture takes the material support of the criminals and instead makes it the material support of law enforcement, funding priorities like new vehicles, bulletproof vests, opioid overdose reversal kits, and better training. In departments across this country, funds that were once used to take lives are now being used to save lives."--Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Photo credit: Matthew T. Nichols for the Department of Justice
Attorney General Jeff Sessions met with law enforcement officials to announce a new Department of Justice policy regarding the federal adoption of assets seized by state or local law enforcement under state law.
The Department’s new policy strengthens the civil asset forfeiture program to better protect victims of crime and innocent property owners, while streamlining the process to more easily dismantle criminal and terrorist organizations.
The policy and guidelines were formulated after extensive consultation with the Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, as well as line Assistant United States Attorneys, career officials in the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS), and career Main Justice attorneys.