[2] To facilitate international cooperation in confiscation, the United Nations Convention against Corruption encourages state parties to consider taking the necessary measures to allow confiscation of the proceeds of corruption without a criminal conviction in cases in which the offender cannot be prosecuted by reason of death, flight or absence or in other appropriate cases.
[citation needed][11][12] These generally provide, on a balance of probabilities basis, for the seizure of property: The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld civil forfeiture laws as a valid exercise of the provincial government power over property and civil rights.
[citation needed] In civil forfeiture cases, the US government sues the item of property, not the person; the owner is effectively a third-party claimant.
[citation needed] In contrast, criminal forfeiture is usually carried out in a sentence following a conviction and is a punitive act against the offender.
The United States Marshals Service is responsible for managing and disposing of properties seized and forfeited by Department of Justice agencies.
[citation needed] Congress has incrementally expanded the government's authority to disrupt and dismantle criminal enterprises and their money-laundering activities since the early 1970s.
[24] In 2015 a number of criminal justice reformers, including Koch family foundations and the ACLU, announced plans to reduce asset forfeiture in the United States due to the disproportionate penalty it places on low-income alleged wrongdoers.
[25] It is difficult for authorities to track, confiscate, and disrupt terrorist-organization finances because they may come from a variety of sources—such as other countries, supporting sympathizers, crime, or legal businesses.
Terrorist groups can profit from many crimes—such as black mail, robbery, extortion, fraud, drug trafficking, etc.
An officer who seized the assets or cash could apply to a magistrates' court[clarification needed] for an order authorizing its continued detention to give time for further investigation into where it came from.
If the magistrates' court is generally satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the cash was intended to be used for the purposes of terrorism or was terrorist property, then it could make a forfeiture order.
[26] The assets that are forfeited for criminal and civil offenses are used "to put more cops on the street", according to former United States President George H. W.
[27][failed verification] The assets are dispersed among the law enforcement community for things such as paying the attorneys involved in the forfeiture case, police vehicles, meth-lab clean up, and other equipment and furniture.