by Ilya Somin. On Monday, the Justice Department suspended its abusive “equitable sharing” asset forfeiture program, which incentivizes state and local governments to seize the property of criminal suspects – including many who have never even been charged with any crime, much less convicted. The program enables state law enforcement ... MORE
Showing posts with label asset forfeiture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label asset forfeiture. Show all posts
DOJ Suspends Abusive Asset Forfeiture Program – For Now
by Ilya Somin. On Monday, the Justice Department suspended its abusive “equitable sharing” asset forfeiture program, which incentivizes state and local governments to seize the property of criminal suspects – including many who have never even been charged with any crime, much less convicted. The program enables state law enforcement ... MOREDrug Czar Wants More $ To Spend On Taking Your Stuff
by Nick Gillespie. The Washington Post reports that the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) wants more money "to identify assets, prosecute cases and 'manage the massive paper flow associated with forfeiture.'" Asset-forfeiture, in which law enforcement seizes property, cash, and goods that it says is connected to drug ... MORE
Charles P. Pierce: That Whole "License To Steal" Thing
Civil forfeiture is a civil shitshow. There was a very interesting statistic that popped earlier this month as
regards criminals and criminal justice in the United States. According to economist Martin Armstrong, in
2014, the police seized through civil forfeiture more of the property
of their fellow citizens than was stolen by all the burglars in the ... MORECivil Forfeiture Laws: It’s Mine, Until The Police Take It
by Paul Samakow. Civil forfeiture laws allow police in just about every state to take citizens’ property, including cash, cars, electronics, even houses, without due process, simply by stating they believe the taken property was somehow involved in a criminal activity. Property can be legally taken without any charges being placed, without an ... MOREJohn Kerr: Take Profit And Self-Interest Out Of Policing
All theft should be illegal. Law enforcement officials have plenty of words to categorize property heists, including robbery, theft, burglary, embezzlement and larceny. Perhaps it’s time to add another term to the lexicon: civil forfeiture. Many Americans may not realize that civil forfeiture laws—which proliferated in the 1980s as the drug war ... MORE
Jason Snead: Why Police In Many States Can Seize Your Property Without Proving You’re Guilty Of A Crime
Politicians use cops to legally hold up citizens. Civil asset forfeiture is a growing problem throughout the nation,
driven by a profit incentive that encourages property seizures by law
enforcement authorities even under dubious circumstances. That is the inescapable conclusion of the second iteration of Policing for Profit: ... MOREThe Cops Now Steal More Property Than The Burglars
The incentives of civil asset forfeiture. For decades now, federal government and their cohorts in law enforcement have been carrying out theft of the citizenry on a massive scale. We’re not talking about taxes, but an insidious power known as Civil Asset Forfeiture (CAF). The 1980’s-era laws were designed to drain resources from powerful ... MORESupreme Court Considers Boundaries For Legalized Theft
by Doug Mataconis. How much of your stuff can government without conviction of a crime? Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Luis v. United States, a case that deals with the issue of whether, and when, the government can seize assets prior to conviction when those assets are being used to pay for a Defendant’s criminal defense: ... MOREJohn W. Whitehead: The Real Issues That You Won't Hear From The 2016 Presidential Candidates This Election Year
Government's stealth tyranny. We now have less than one year until the 2016 presidential election. Despite the dire state of our nation, however, you can rest assured that none of the problems that continue to undermine our freedoms will be addressed in any credible way by the presidential candidates—certainly not if doing so might ... MOREJohn W Whitehead: The Real Issues You Won't Hear From The 2016 Presidential Candidates This Election Year
The tyranny behind the curtain. We now have less than one year until the 2016 presidential election. Despite the dire state of our nation, however, you can rest assured that none of the problems that continue to undermine our freedoms will be addressed in any credible way by the presidential candidates—certainly not if doing so might ... MOREPaul Albaugh: The Need for Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform
Because theft should not be a legal activity. Among the many reforms needed in government, civil asset forfeiture
might be near the top. While a majority of Americans are not affected by
the practice, it’s a problem that if left unchecked could get more out
of hand than it already is. The French philosopher Frederic Bastiat
warned of “legal ... MORECivil Asset Forfeiture Is Oklahoma's New Stop And Frisk; 2/3 Of Cash Seizures By Police Come From Minorities
by David Lowe. People of color are being fleeced by law enforcement and the criminal justice system. The public began to pay more attention to the practice in places such as Ferguson, Missouri, where the courts and police preyed upon Black residents through court fines and fees. The exploitative system became a substantial revenue generator for ... MORE71% Of Americans Think Civil Asset Forfeiture Is Wrong
by Kevin Drum. Too bad politicians don't care. Julian Sanchez draws my attention to a YouGov poll from last month about civil asset forfeiture, the practice of confiscating money that police merely believe to be connected to a crime. What do Americans think of this? - Which of these options comes closest to your opinion about what SHOULD be ... MOREGovernment Likes To Steal Stuff: How One State Tries To Keep Civil Asset Forfeiture Victims From Fighting Back
by George Leef. According to the Institute for Justice’s grading of the states on how bad they are when it comes to civil asset forfeiture, Arizona is among the worst, getting a grade of D. (Only five states are worse, with D-minus grades.) One reason why Arizona deserves its bad grade is the fact that its law attempts to deter individuals who have had ... MORECalifornia Prosecutors Protect Policing For Profit Practices Allowing Gov't To Seize Property From Innocent Citizens
Law enforcement has better lobby than the citizens. A powerful last minute lobbying effort by a well-connected law enforcement group was more than enough to defeat a bipartisan bill in California last week that would have restricted police from seizing – and keeping – cash and property from innocent citizens. Passing the law, ... MOREJohan Bennett: New Bipartisan Bill Strikes At The Heart Of The Federal Government's Civil Asset Forfeiture Apparatus
Program allows property to be taken without due process. Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu and GOP Rep. Justin Amash just teamed up Wednesday to introduce a bill into the House with the goal of eliminating the Drug Enforcement Administration’s controversial marijuana enforcement program. The DEA uses the Domestic Cannabis ... MORECalifornia Forfeits Common Sense; Picks Cops Over Citizens
More evidence the government is not us. Last Thursday, the Sisyphean boulder of property rights and due process rolled downhill. SB 443, California’s attempt to summarily end civil-asset forfeiture and “equitable sharing” abuse, roundly failed passage in the State Assembly, 24 to 44. Oddly enough, this was after a 31-to-1 vote in the ... MORE
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