Civil Asset Forfeiture is a despicable practice that places the civil liberties of the people in jeopardy by affording law enforcement the power to violate their rights and confiscate their property even though that individual hasn't been charged or convicted or any wrongdoing.
Many people have had their cars taken, cash, houses, and more, because the police have accused them and their property of being associated with criminal activity.
There are thousands of homes and vehicles that have been taken. For those who have fallen victim to this controversial practice, it's costed them dearly to try and fight for their rights and to have their property returned to them. In several cases those individuals eventually do have their property returned because they had never been charged with any wrongdoing, yet the entire process they are put through can cost them their job, their reputation, and more.
Law enforcement leaders claim that it's a necessary tool to fight crime, but the policy erodes the relationship between the police and the community after those individuals in the community have their property taken away from them when they've done nothing wrong.
A majority of the people who are targeted under civil asset forfeiture are innocent.
For years now, asset forfeiture has surpassed burglaries with how much money it is helping to funnel into police departments and the state.
They've collected billions of dollars around the country.
This “tool” arguably isn't being used to fight crime, so much as it is being used against innocent people who were never charged or convicted of any wrongdoing.
How is it anything other than thievery and injustice for the state to be confiscating
billions of dollars from hardworking people who were never found guilty of any crime. In various regions, there have been efforts to push back against this practice and there are currently constitutional challenges in court underway against this legislation. But it still continues to this day in around the country and elsewhere in the world.
Because of the weak transparency regarding stats on who is targeted etc, it's unknown exactly how many of those people might have never been charged or convicted of a crime. Texas isn't the only state
earning millions thanks to civil asset forfeiture and with that sort of financial incentive, can we blame them for not wanting to say goodbye?
Pics:
pic 1 - Texas Appleseed via Youtube
pic 2 - John Locke Foundation
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@doitvoluntarily hello dear friend, this news causes a lot of impotence and outrage
Thank you very much for letting us know this news
I wish you a great day
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thanks for swinging by and checking it out @jlufer
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this is not surprising everything is a corruption and especially the police to innocent people without caring anything
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thanks for stopping by @glorimarbolivar ✌
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Howdy tonight sir doitvoluntarily! wow this really sucks, especially in my home state but somehow we need to change it. I hope these types of cases get chaellenged and go the the Supreme Court.
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I was in the Harris County DA's Office in Houston, Texas from 1980 to 1985. The forfeiture laws came about at the state level just as I was leaving the office. I have defended a number of asset forfeiture cases. The idea of the state forfeiting the ill-gotten gain from drug dealers is, in theory, not a bad idea. It is a potent weapon that allows for the state to remove the economic incentive from drug dealers so they do not calculate how much money will be waiting for them when they get out of prison. It also has the advantage of forcing the cost of enforcement onto the criminals while sparing the innocent taxpayer from paying for enforcement.
The problem is not with the concept, but with the laws and applications that we currently have, that have led to numerous instances of overreach, abuse, bullying and unfairness. Presently, if you are in possession of a large amount of cash, it is presumed to be contraband unless you can prove otherwise. Our entire criminal justice system is predicated on a presumption of innocence that forces the state to carry the burden of proof before a citizen will lose his or her freedom.
The forfeiture laws turned this concept on its head and now the state gets a presumption of illegality in their favor and the burden is on the citizen to prove otherwise. Hence, the problem. Police can seize your $3,000 in cash and you have to come forward and prove where the funds came from. For dollar amounts below $20,000 it is mathematically impossible to pay a lawyer to fight for the money without paying almost as much as the amount of money taken. It is guaranteed lose/lose for the citizen and the government will win every time under these circumstances. You realistically cannot pay a lawyer $20,000 to spend the next year battling in court to get your $20,000 returned.
Police are no different than anyone else. They are competitive and want to win. By adding an economic incentive, they are now becoming mercenaries. We do not have private police forces because we depend on them to be neutral. They get paid a government salary. They make the same no matter the outcome of a criminal case to keep them from becoming biased due to an economic interest in the outcome. This is a crucial aspect of law enforcement because we as a society have so much riding on our police not being corrupt. The forfeiture laws have unfortunately given them an economic incentive that is contrary to our history and social norms. It costs them nothing to seize your money and now you bare the cost of trying to prove the funds are not contraband.
There are some common sense reforms that might allow for forfeiture of contraband without jettisoning our individual rights and being subjected to whimsical harassment by law enforcement. First, there can be no forfeiture unless there is a criminal conviction that is in some way tied to the asset. Second, the presumption that cash is contraband needs to done away with entirely. If the state makes the allegation it is contraband, then the state has the burden of proof, always. Third, the state cannot seize automobiles. In the modern era, no car, no job. Seizing a family’s only form of transportation is bad policy, no matter the rational. There are other hyper technical ideas but this post is already too long.
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the problem IS with the concept because it undermines what are supposed to be Constitutionally protected rights. Also, "crimes" without any victims, such as those which fall under 'drug crimes' shouldn't qualify as any crime at all and those individuals shouldn't have their property taken from them because of their frowned upon voluntary exchanges.
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Whether to legalize drugs is an entirely different issue. I was speaking to forfeiture laws, not the bigger question of prohibition. Forfeiture laws are not just confined to drug cases. when a corrupt defense contractor bribes a general and a congressman and the three of them run off with several million dollars in the course of committing fraud, do you think society should be able to recover the ill-gotten gain? Otherwise they bank millions of dollars that is waiting for them when paroled. For the record, I do not agree with current drug laws either but that is a different conversation.
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When the "good guys" cost you more than the bad guys.
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