Explain asset forfeiture. Why is it considered in a discussion of the Eighth Amendment?

What will be an ideal response?


Asset forfeiture is seizure by the government of money or property connected with illegal activity. Such seizure is intended to take the gain or profit out of crime. While it is considered a civil action initiated by the government and not a criminal action per se, the high court has recognized it as an area subject to the Eighth Amendment, because forfeiture "constitutes payment to a sovereign as punishment for some offenses . . . and, as such, is subject to the limitations of the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause" (Austin v. United States, 1993). Thus, the Court has held that the amount seized through asset forfeiture must bear some relationship to the value of the illegal enterprise.

Criminal Justice

You might also like to view...

The proponents of ______ theory join in with Aristotle in believing that ethical knowledge involves a degree of wisdom or judgment that cannot be expressed in the form of an absolute rule.

a. moral b. justice c. virtue d. Kantian

Criminal Justice

What does the expression mean, "a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client"? Do you think John Muhammed was foolish to have represented himself or was he, as he put it,

in the best position to represent himself because he knew himself so well and the facts of the case better than his attorneys ever could (since the jury determined by its guilty verdict that Muhammed was at every crime scene)? What will be an ideal response?

Criminal Justice

In which nation is violence the second leading cause of death behind heart disease?

a. Brazil
b. Sri Lanka
c. Russia
d. Mexico

Criminal Justice

______ cases involve juveniles who have suffered physical abuse from their parents

a. delinquency b. dependency c. truancy d. status

Criminal Justice