Will Eric Holder’s Memo Have a Substantial Effect on Civil Asset Forfeiture Practices?

Abstract As part of the Department of Justice’s comprehensive review of the Asset Forfeiture Program, then Attorney General Eric Holder issued a memo on January 16th, 2015 restricting the adoption of state-level asset forfeitures by federal agencies. This paper seeks to predict what impact, if any, this change in policy will have on the use and abuse of civil asset forfeiture by examining the history of and literature surrounding civil asset forfeiture. Given this policy’s narrow scope and lax definitions that exempt most cases where it would be applicable, it is unlikely that this policy will have a substantial impact. Alternative methods of limiting the abuse of both federal adoption and civil asset forfeiture as a whole are proposed.