State and federal laws allow law enforcement agencies to seize the property of an individual who has not been charged with a crime.  This practice tears at the heart of justice and fairness in our system and turns the fundamental principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty on its head.

NACDL believes that asset forfeiture represents one of the most fundamental threats to the individual liberties of those accused of criminal activities as well as citizens not charged with any crime.  NACDL strongly encourages the reform of asset forfeiture laws.

NACDL’s White Collar Crime Policy Department is on the front lines combating new and unnecessary criminal laws and pushing for meaningful criminal justice reform. NACDL white collar advocacy focuses primarily on the problems of:

• Overcriminalization,
• Vicarious corporate criminal liability,
• Disproportionate and insufficiently flexible sentencing.

In support of this effort, NACDL serves as a leader in a politically diverse coalition of bar, non-profit, and business groups who advocate for a sound and just criminal justice system.

The U.S. Sentencing Guidelines regularly create unjust results in white collar cases. Loss calculations, which are not tethered to reality or related to actual culpability, produce sentences that are astoundingly high and do not serve the goals of sentencing or criminal justice. The risk of being sentenced under these draconian guidelines effectively precludes defendants from exercising their Sixth Amendment right to a trial.

One thing is clear about the practice we call white collar criminal defense – it is constantly changing and evolving! The issues are increasingly complex and the press coverage more intense than ever before. This page is a vehicle to keep you informed of breaking news, cutting edge developments, and recent scholarship.

As the nation’s preeminent provider of continuing legal education for criminal defense lawyers, NACDL’s White Collar Crime Policy Department develops and hosts programs designed particularly for attorneys who practice white collar defense. From the annual Defending the White Collar Case Seminar, known as the nation’s premiere White Collar CLE program for networking and getting the inside scoop on the biggest white collar cases of the day, to stand alone briefings on cutting edge topics like willful blindness and honest services program, NACDL is the best source for education programming.

Nation's Criminal Defense Bar Disappointed in Announcement of Regressive DOJ Policy on Asset Forfeiture -- Washington, DC (July 19, 2017) -- NACDL was disappointed in today's announcement by the Department of Justice that it is returning to ill-advised forfeiture policies that it had recently abandoned after much public scrutiny.

NACDL adopts recommendations to address the aforementioned flaws through reforms to the applicable securities laws and the rules governing the SEC administrative proceeding process.

NACDL has proposed several technical statutory amendments to rectify the money laundering regime’s most serious flaws by simplifying and clarifying current law, facilitating compliance efforts by individuals and businesses, and by focusing federal law enforcement on serious misconduct. [Released August 2001]

NACDL created The Commission to Reform the Federal Grand Jury, drawing on the expertise of a variety of professionals throughout the criminal justice system. Commissioners spent two years examining the need for changes in the grand jury process and produced a Federal Grand Jury Bill of Rights based on their findings. The ten reforms set forth in this Bill of Rights, largely echoing those proposed by the American Bar Association (ABA) more than 20 years ago, would restore balance to the grand jury process and better protect against unwarranted prosecutions. [Released May 2000]

Reports and other resources on forfeiture reform

Forfeiture Reform: Organizations & Websites

Forfeiture reform letters of support from NACDL and its partners, and from others.

Forfeiture Reform: Federal Legislation Pending Federal Legislation S. 255 & H.R. 540 , The Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act of 2015 (FAIR Act) - The Fair Act amends the federal criminal code to increase the federal government's burden of proof in civil forfeiture proceedings to clear and c

The Need to Reform Asset Forfeiture

Forfeiture Reform: 2016 State Legislation Asset Forfeiture Reform Legislation Advances Through State Legislatures In 2016, a number of states have successfully passed legislation impacting their civil asset forfeiture laws, including Nebraska which eliminated civil forfeiture in the state. Here’s a br