the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 requiring a convicted defendant to pay a specified sum of money to the state by a specified date. United States During the American Revolution, customs racketeering became a serious problem. By harshly enforcing customs laws, particularly the more obscure regulations, corrupt customs officials could seize property almost with impunity. This caused significant conflict between the United States and Great Britain. In the United States among the "war measures" during the American Civil War, acts were passed in 1861 and 1862 confiscating, respectively, property used for "insurrectionary purposes" and the property generally of those engaged in rebellion. Modern trends There was from the late 1980s onwards a resurgence of interest in confiscation as crime prevention tool, which went hand in hand with the interest in the criminalization of money laundering. A number of international instruments, starting with the 1988 Vienna Convention, have strongly suggested the enactment of legal provisions enabling confiscation of proceeds of crime. The 40 recommendations of the FATF have also stated its importance as a crime prevention tool. A further trend has been the reversal of the burden of proof for the purpose of facilitating confiscation. To the surprise of many, it is actually quite legal for law enforcement agencies to take property from people who haven't been convicted of a crime yet as civil asset forfeiture, a practice which brings in millions of dollars of revenue each year, disproportionately affecting people without means or access to a lawyer. See also Asset forfeiture Civil forfeiture in the United States Eminent domain FATF Government auction Individual reclamation Money laundering New Zealand land confiscations Prodrazvyorstka (1918–1921) under War Communism in Soviet Russia Penalty Spanish confiscation References External links UK Education and Inspection Act 2006 - Section 94, Confiscation from pupils Punishments Crime Asset forfeiture