Justice Dept wants Public Documents Destroyed

by soccerdad

The president of the American Library Association issued a statement on July 30, 2004 stating that the Justice Department had requested that the Governement Printing Office instruct depository libraries to destroy 5 documents because they were deemed not "appropriate for external use."

So what was in the documents

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).

No explanation was given. The ALA has filed a FOIA request to determine the justification. Puzzling

UPDATE

The DOJ has changed its mind after strong protest from librarians Link

Though DOJ officials said that the materials were inappropriately
distributed to depository libraries through an error, Russell noted, the agency
determined that these materials are 'not sufficiently sensitive to require
removal from the depository library system.'