Forfeiture and due process: An analysis of the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996 and its effect on the presumption of innocence in Irish law

This thesis critically analyses the Proceeds of Crime Act, 1996 and its effect on the substance of the presumption of innocence in Irish law. It argues that this hastily enacted legislation is a direct attack on the presumption of innocence and the right to remain free of State sanction until guilt has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal court. This thesis illustrates how this Act places Ireland's process for seizing the proceeds of crime at variance with those in other jurisdictions and with its own former procedures. Based on previous American legislation, which is itself sustained on anachronistic historical analogies, this Act provides for the removal of property linked to criminal activity without any proof of the complicity of the owner. The argument is made that this is a criminal punishment disguised as a civil procedure and, as such, is a direct and unsustainable attack on a fundamental right of our common law tradition and current constitutional jurisprudence.