Justice To Libraries: Please Destroy Some Books For Us

The Department of Justice has asked the Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents to instruct federal depository libraries around the country to destroy five publications that the Department of Justice has deemed not “appropriate for external use.” Two of these books are simply the texts of federal statutues. According to the ALA press release, “The topics addressed in the named documents include information on how citizens can retrieve items that may have been confiscated by the government during an investigation. The documents to be removed and destroyed include: Civil and Criminal Forfeiture Procedure; Select Criminal Forfeiture Forms; Select Federal Asset Forfeiture Statutes; Asset forfeiture and money laundering resource directory; and Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA).”