Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 (Title II of Public Law 98-473), with Chapter III, the Comprehensive Forfeiture Act of 1984, 98 Stat. 1976, 2040

Public Law 98-473, dated October 12, 1984, is a joint resolution (H.J. Res. 648) making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 1985; it begins at 98 Stat. 1837. Its Title II, at page 1976, provides: “This title may be cited as the ‘Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984.’”

Chapter III, “Forfeiture”, at page 2040, “may be cited as the ‘Comprehensive Forfeiture Act of 1984’”. Its section 302 rewrites 18 U.S.C. 1963 so that a person who violates section 1962 is fined not more than $25,000 or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both, and forfeits, “irrespective of any provision of State law”, any interest acquired or maintained in violation of section 1962, any interest in or source of influence over the enterprise, and “any property constituting, or derived from, any proceeds which the person obtained, directly or indirectly, from racketeering activity or unlawful debt collection in violation of section 1962.” (98 Stat. 2040, new 18 U.S.C. 1963(a)(3).) The new section also provides for substitute property where forfeitable property cannot be located or has been transferred or commingled, and for restraining orders to preserve property.

The Justice Department’s Asset Forfeiture Program page says: “The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 (P.L. 98-473), codified in 28 U.S.C. § 524(c), established the AFF as a special fund within the Treasury to receive the proceeds of forfeitures.” AFF there stands for the Assets Forfeiture Fund. The U.S. Marshals Service says this Act amended the Witness Security Program; the amending section was not located in the text read. Only the Title II short title and Chapter III, sections 301 and 302, were read; the Act’s drug-forfeiture provisions were not.