by Matt Vespa. Welcome to the upside down world of civil asset forfeiture. On Monday, FreedomWorks and the Center for American Progress (CAP) joined forces to invite bloggers, writers, and some think-tank analysts for a daylong conference on justice reform. One of the aspects I liked about the conference is that it shows on some ... MORE
Showing posts with label asset forfeiture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label asset forfeiture. Show all posts
Conor Friedersdorf: The Injustice Of Civil Asset Forfeiture
The government's highwaymen. Joseph Rivers left his hometown of Romulus, Michigan, boarded a train, and headed for Los Angeles, California, where he hoped to become a music-video producer. The 22-year-old says he’d been saving money for years to make the trip and that his mother had scraped together some additional cash to help ... MORE
Forfeiture Funds Used To Oppose Marijuana Legalization
by Ray Stern. For a narco cop, freedom is bad for business. A law-enforcement task force in Yavapai County cut a $50,000 check from RICO funds to a substance-abuse group dedicated to fighting marijuana legalization in Arizona, New Times has learned. The deal between the Yavapai County-based Partners Against Narcotics Trafficking ... MORE
DEA To Traveler: Thanks, I'll Take That Cash
by Joline Gutierrez Krueger. Public servants with a license to steal. Maybe he should have taken traveler’s checks. But it’s too late for that now. All the money – $16,000 in cash – that Joseph Rivers said he had saved and relatives had given him to launch his dream in Hollywood is gone, seized during his trip out West not by thieves but by drug ... MORE
Sterotyping At Its Worst: DEA Steals Cash From Innocent Black Man Who They Claim ‘Must Be A Drug Dealer’
by M. David and Reagan Ali. Some thieves carry badges. They found no drugs on him whatsoever. They never saw him selling drugs or committing a crime of any sort. But the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) claims that they are “certain” that 22-year-old Joseph Rivers is a “drug dealer.” What makes them so sure? When the young ... MORE
From The Drug War To Militarizing Police, Why Does The Left Still Support Federal Control Of Local Policing?
March of the Democrats. Glenn 'Instapundit' Reynolds has a great column in USA Today demolishing the idea—floated by the Obama administration and pushed recently by Al Sharpton—that a nationalized police force would somehow be an improvement, from a civil liberties perspective, over the current situation. The Obama ... MORE
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New DPA Report Finds 'Policing for Profit' Gone Wild
by Jag Davies. Did you know police are allowed to seize and keep your cash, cars, real estate, and any other property -- even if you're never convicted or even charged with a crime? It's called civil asset forfeiture -- and if it sounds like legalized burglary, that's because it is. In cities and small towns across the country -- Baltimore jumps to mind at ... MORE
Lynch’s Confirmation A Step Backward For Asset Forfeiture
by Mitchell Colbert. Another proponent of government theft at the helm. After nearly three months of debate the Republican-controlled Senate has allowed Loretta Lynch to become the nation’s next Attorney General, replacing Eric Holder. Barack Obama has now appointed both the nation’s first black man and first black woman to serve as ... MORE
Above the Law: New Report Finds Extensive Civil Asset Forfeiture Abuses by California Law Enforcement Agencies
Momentum for reform accelerates. Civil asset forfeiture laws allow the government to seize and keep cash, cars, real estate, and any other property – even from citizens never charged with or convicted of a crime. Because these assets often go straight into the coffers of the enforcement agency, these laws have led to a perversion of police priorities, ... MORE
Paul Gessing: New Mexico's Civil Asset Forfeiture Success
Tyranny takes one in the shorts. They say it’s better to be lucky than good. Of course, it’s even better to be lucky and good! That is exactly what happened in New Mexico during the 2015 legislative session with regard to reforming the process of civil asset forfeiture. To recap, during the 2015 legislative session, New Mexico’s deeply-divided ... MORE
Legislation To Curb Civil Forfeiture Advances In States
by Jacob Gershman. Georgia lawmakers are set to vote on legislation
intended to rein in the state’s civil forfeiture procedures, part of a
national push for more scrutiny and limits on asset-seizure programs
that law enforcement officials say help curb drug crimes but critics say
are prone to abuse. The Republican-led Senate in Georgia could ... MORE
New Mexico Passes Bill To Abolish Civil Asset Forfeiture
by Casey Harper. The New Mexico state legislature passed a groundbreaking bill Saturday to abolish civil asset forfeiture. Now Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who will likely get attention as a potential 2016 vice presidential candidate, will have the bill on her desk. Civil asset forfeiture is a practice where police can take and ... MORE
Nick Sibilla: The DEA's Version Of Stop-and-Frisk
Seizing cash without warrants is legalized theft. Federal drug agents may be racially profiling and unjustly seizing cash from travelers in the nation’s airports, bus stations and train stations. A new report released by the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Justice examined the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)’s ... MORE
Policing For Profit Makes Residents Victims
The practice of legalized theft slithers into the light. Most people have never heard the term “policing for profit,” but they’ve certainly seen it in action. Speed traps on roads that run through small towns have long generated money for the local governments. Big cities also police for profit. Washington, D.C., raked in $92 million in ticket ... MORE
Eric Nicholson: Texas Lawmakers Want To Make It Harder (or Even Impossible) For Police To Seize Citizen Property
Cutting incentives for theft. Texas has some of the worst civil forfeiture laws in the country. In
2010, the Institute for Justice gave the state a grade of D- in terms of
how easy it is for police to take property allegedly linked to criminal
activity, and how hard it is for the property owner to get it back.
It's not everywhere that a petty thief can ... MORE
Why Should Non-Criminals Care About Justice Reform?
by Julie Borowski. Criminal justice reform has been a hot topic lately. It’s something that both Republicans and Democrats can find common ground on. However, I get the sense that many Americans aren’t convinced that it would benefit them personally. Most of us are probably law-obeying citizens whom would never dream of being involved in illicit ... MORE
L.L. Braiser: The Law That Allows Cops To Raid Homes, Steal Money & Seize Property From The Innocent, Elderly
The state of the American police state. Thomas Williams was alone that November morning in 2013 when police raided his rural St. Joseph County home, wearing black masks, camouflage and holding guns at their sides. They broke down his front door with a battering ram. "We think you're dealing marijuana," they told Williams, a 72-year-old, retired ... MORE
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