Criminal Justice (Forfeiture
Orders) (Jersey) Law 2001
A LAW to empower courts to deprive offenders of property utilized in
furtherance of crime, and for connected purposes
Commencement [see endnotes]
1 Interpretation
In this Law –
“compensation order”
has the meaning given to it in the Criminal Justice
(Compensation Orders) (Jersey) Law 1994;
“police” means
the States of Jersey Police Force or the Honorary Police;
“property”
does not include immovable property.
2 Power to deprive offender
of property used, or intended for use, for purposes of crime
(1) Subject
to the following provisions of this Article, where a person is convicted of an
offence and –
(a) the
court by or before which the person is convicted is satisfied that any property
which has been lawfully seized from the person or which was in the
person’s possession or under the person’s control at the time when he
or she was apprehended for the offence or when a summons in respect of it was
issued –
(i) has been used for
the purpose of committing, or facilitating the commission of, any offence, or
(ii) was
intended by the person to be used for that purpose; or
(b) the
offence, or an offence which the court has taken into consideration in
determining the person’s sentence, consists of unlawful possession of
property which –
(i) has been lawfully
seized from the person, or
(ii) was
in the person’s possession or under the person’s control at the
time when he or she was apprehended for the offence of which he or she has been
convicted or when a summons in respect of that offence was issued,
the court may make an
order under this Article in respect of that property, and may do so whether or
not it also deals with the offender in respect of the offence in any other way.
(2) In
considering whether to make such an order in respect of any property a court
shall have regard –
(a) to
the value of the property; and
(b) to
the likely financial and other effects on the offender of the making of the
order (taken together with any other order that the court contemplates making).
(3) Facilitating
the commission of an offence shall be taken for the purposes of this Article to
include the taking of any steps after the offence has been committed for the
purpose of disposing of any property to which it relates or of avoiding
apprehension or detection.
(4) An
order under this Article shall operate to deprive the offender of the
offender’s rights, if any, in the property to which it relates, and the
property shall, if not already in their possession, be taken into the
possession of the police.
(5) Where
any property has come into the possession of the police by virtue of paragraph (4)
the court that made the order under paragraph (1) may, on application by a
claimant of the property, make an order for the delivery of the property to the
person appearing to the court to be the owner thereof.
(6) No
application under paragraph (5) –
(a) shall
be made after the expiration of 3 months from the date on which the order under
paragraph (1) in respect of the property was made or 3 months from the
date on which any appeal from that order was disposed of; and
(b) shall
succeed unless the claimant satisfies the court either that the claimant had
not consented to the offender having possession of the property or, where an
order is made under paragraph (1)(a), that the claimant did not know, and
had no reason to suspect, that the property was likely to be used for the
purpose mentioned in that paragraph.
(7) Property
in the possession of the police by virtue of paragraph (4) and not subject
to an order under paragraph (5) or Article 3 shall be disposed of in
accordance with the Police
Force (Disposal of Property) (Jersey) Regulations 1975.
3 Application of proceeds of
forfeited property
(1) Where
a court makes an order under Article 2 in a case where –
(a) the
offender has been convicted of an offence which has resulted in a person
suffering personal injury, loss or damage; or
(b) any
such offence is taken into consideration by the court in determining sentence,
the court may also make an
order that any proceeds which arise from the disposal of the property and which
do not exceed a sum specified by the court shall be paid to that person.
(2) The
court may only make an order under this Article if it is satisfied that but for
the inadequacy of the means of the offender it would have made a compensation
order under which the offender would have been required to pay compensation of
an amount not less than the specified amount.
(3) An
order under this Article has no effect before the end of a period of 3 months
after it is made or 3 months after any appeal from that order is disposed of or
if a successful application under Article 2(5) is made.
4 Citation
This Law may be cited as
the Criminal Justice (Forfeiture Orders) (Jersey) Law 2001.