ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with criminal restraint and confiscation and also, briefly, with civil recovery. Civil recovery is a valuable tool for prosecutors to deprive criminals of their ill-gotten gain when criminal confiscation is not possible because, for example, criminal proceedings fail or cannot be commenced for lack of evidence to the criminal standard. The chapter explores the confiscation orders pursuant to Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA). The venue under POCA is the Crown Court which made the restraint order. POCA Proceeds introduced it and the Asset Recovery Agency (ARA) was established to deal with it. The ARA has since been abolished and its powers transferred to prosecuting authorities. The Serious Crime Act 2007 (SCA) states that a relevant prosecuting authority must exercise its functions under the SCA in a way best calculated to contribute to the reduction of crime; it further states that the reduction of crime is best secured by means of criminal investigations and criminal proceedings.
