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This month, the Washington, D.C., Criminal Code Reform Commission gave Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council a set of sensible recommendations on “modernization of the District’s criminal statutes.” It offers the mayor, council members, the public, as well as Congress and lawmakers in any jurisdiction much to consider. The commission has until Oct. l, 2018, to recommend revisions to the language of the District’s criminal statutes.
Many state and federal statutes provide that when property is used in certain prohibited ways, ownership of the property passes to the government. Often, the statutes allow these forfeitures to be declared in civil proceedings against the property itself, without the normal safeguards of the criminal process. Indeed, if no one claims the property after proper notice, the government’s assertion of ownership can become incontestable without any judicial proceedings at all. Statutes authorizing such civil or administrative forfeiture might seem like egregious violations of both property rights and criminal-procedure rights guaranteed by the federal Constitution. But while forfeiture statutes may be unfair and unwise, this Feature cautions originalists not to assume that they are unconstitutional. The Feature concludes that the original meaning of the Constitution (as liquidated by historical practice) does not foreclose the three key features of forfeiture
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