Forfeiture Reform Activists:
Support Resources

The purpose of this page is to provide resources to volunteer activists that are fighting for Forfeiture Reform. Specifically, the page will provide links to supporting organizations, individuals, and information.

Resources

• Organizations

• F.E.A.R (Forfeiture Endangers American Rights)
  This organization has been in the forefront of Forfeiture Reform for many years now. The web site is a great resource of useful material, including laws, legislation, victim support, briefs, and an archive of forfeiture articles.
• The Drug Policy Foundation's "Public Policy: Civil Asset Forfeiture"

This organization is very active in the fight for forfeiture reform. Their site has several high quality documents on-line and others that can be purchased at a nominal cost.
• Auction Action   by the Liberty Activist

A web site suggesting ways to protest the auctions of looted property that the government conducts on a regular basis.
• Bill Of Attainder Project

A civil liberties organization started by the Libertarian Party of Oklahoma. The project contacts political activists, organizations and others to forward the cause of preventing laws that plunder life, liberty, and property.
• The Liberty Project

Another forfeiture reform organization. They are "working to support meaningful reform that would lessen the harshness of civil asset forfeiture laws".
• MAP (The Media Awareness Project)

These folks, as a small part of their major effort of drug reform, support the FEAR email lists. They provide an excellent source of current news articles about these issues. Just type "forfeiture" in the search field to see the latest articles on forfeiture.
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
  Their page on Forfeiture Reform has a list of "Action" links.
• Cato Institute
  See their page on the conference they sponsored May 3, 1999, "Forfeiture Reform: Now, or Never?"
• [to be continued . . .]

• People

• Activists:

  • [ . . . later]

• Attorneys:

  • California: Jason K. Singleton
  • Florida: Montgomery Blair Sibley   (Sells a "Federal Forfeiture Practice Manual". Offers some free consultation. Other info at his "Center For Forfeiture Law" web site.)
  • New York: Steven L. Kessler   (Expert in asset forfeiture. Has several good articles on-line.)
  • Florida:Wm. Daniel Ravenscroft, Officer of F.E.A.R., and Brenda Grantland, President of F.E.A.R. are members of the Florida Law Association.
  • [to be continued . . .]

• Government

  • Contractors
  • DynCorp
    A "Beltway Bandit" that works for DOJ -- to help manage the loot (mostly computer inventory stuff) -- and lots of other government agencies.
  • EG&G Services
  
  These folks are typical of government contractors in that they provide a service of doing the routine work that would never get done if left up to the "Civil Servants". They work for DOJ, Customs, and other agencies and their specialty is taking care of the loot. According to the DOJ Asset Forfeiture manual, they are not authorized to do the actual looting.
  • [to be continued. . .]
  • Agencies
  • The U.S. Treasury's site on "Seized Property Auctions"
  • The Customs Department's essay on "Seizures and Forfeitures"
  • The U.S. Marshals' "Asset Seizure and  Forfeiture" site
  
  Their job is to take care of the loot and to sell it for the best price. So far, they have not done a very good job.
  Since taking care of things and selling them involves real work, they of course sub-contract it out. The list of sub-contractors for selling is at the "National Sellers List".
  • [to be continued . . .]
  • Politicians
  • Easy Ways to Contact your "Representatives"
    • Special Page at Capweb for Forfeiture Reform
    • ACLU Sponsored free FAX page
    • The Electronic Activist
  • Senator Trent Lott
  • Senator Orrin Hatch
  • Representative Henry Hyde

• Others

• [to be continued . . .]

• Information

• Background and History of Modern Forfeiture:

  • Donald J. Kochan's excellent essay, "Reforming Property Forfeiture Laws Protect Citizens’ Rights", at the Mackinac Center
  • "DRUG CONTROL AND ASSET SEIZURES: A REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF FORFEITURE IN ENGLAND AND COLONIAL AMERICA" by Cecil Greek, discusses the historical basis of property seizure
  • Leonard W. Levy's book, A License to Steal, 1996, The University of North Carolina Press.

• Asset Forfeiture Manual , Edited by Terra Libra staff

  An introduction and primer to the asset forfeiture procedures. Helpful to those who need to defend themselves or to help others. Offers other material for a price.

• DOJ's "ASSET FORFEITURE PROGRAM:  ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT: FISCAL YEAR 1996"

  This is actually an OIG report that reviews the DOJ report. OIG is a "watchdog" agency under the DOJ.

• J.D. Tuccille's excellent list of forfeiture articles and resources.

• US Code - Title 21, Section 881

While there are many laws that invoke forfeiture, this is the biggy. This one is about drugs and was the one that started it all.

• "Forfeiture: The Shameful Abuse of the Constitution by our Trusted Government"

  My introductory article on forfeiture originally written in 1996.

  "Forfeiture Reform Legislation: Will it be Now, or Never?"

  This page was written to specifically support the current effort to get the Forfeiture Reform bill passed, now in the Senate

• Legislation Online

  • DOJ version, S. 1701, Introduced in Senate by Senator Sessions
  • Henry Hyde's Bill, H.R. 1658
  • Henry Hyde's Bill, H.R. 1835, offered in 1997
    Replaced by H.R. 1965
  • The DOJ version, H.R. 1965, that replaced Hyde's bill but also failed to get out of committee
    Henry Hyde was deceived into sponsoring this "Trojan Horse" bill. He subsequently withdrew it when he became aware of its contents.
  • Henry Hyde's Forfeiture Reform bill offered in 1996, H.R. 1916
    

• GAO Reports

  Here are links to GAO reports regarding forfeiture, seizure, etc. These reports are online at the GAO site, but are listed and linked to here for your convenience. Note also, that paper versions of GAO reports are available free or at a minimal cost.

  • Seized Drugs and Firearms: FBI Needs to Improve Certain Physical Safeguards and Strengthen Accountability (Letter Report, 12/16/1999, GAO/AIMD-00-18) -- ( Text, PDF, or Summary)
  • IRS Seizures: Needed for Compliance but Processes for Protecting Taxpayer Rights Have Some Weaknesses (Chapter Report, 11/29/1999, GAO/GGD-00-4) -- (Text, PDF, or Summary)
  • IRS Seizures: Limited Progress in Eliminating Asset Management Control Weaknesses (Letter Report, 11/29/1999, GAO/GGD-00-5) -- (Text, PDF, or Summary)
  • Seized Drugs and Weapons: DEA Needs to Improve Certain Physical Safeguards and Strengthen Accountability (GAO/AIMD-00-17) -- (PDF)

• Other

• On-line Hand-out Materials, Brochures, etc.

  Note, the two FEAR trifolds are each two pages long and are formatted to be printed on both sides of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.
  • The FEAR Information Trifold in HTML format (looks best with Netscape 4.x)
  • The FEAR Information Trifold in MSWord format
  • The FEAR Information Trifold in PDF format
  • FEAR trifold: "What To Do When Your Property has been Seized", in HTML format (looks best with Netscape 4.x)
  • FEAR trifold: "What To Do When Your Property has been Seized" in MSWord format
  • FEAR trifold: "What To Do When Your Property has been Seized" in PDF format
  • From the Drug Policy Foundation (DPF), we have Scott Ehlers' excellent "Policy Briefing: Asset Forfeiture (May 1999)" in PDF format. (Warning! This is 16 printed pages, a 1.9 Mb file!)

• Email Lists and Forums

  • The FEAR-Talk List

    To sign up, send an email to [email protected] requesting that you be put on the FEAR-Talk list.

  • FEAR-Forum

    Using your browser, go to The Activists forum.

• Other Forfeiture Resource Sites

  • The Open Directory Project
  • J.D. Tuccille's "Spotlight on Civil Asset Forfeiture"