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 ... MORE
Showing posts with label civil forfeiture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label civil forfeiture. Show all posts
California 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, ... MORE
Johan 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 ... MORE
California 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
Asset Forfeiture: Do Police Seize Innocent People’s Money?
by Clifton Adcock and Ben Fenwick. On a March evening in 2013, William Cicco drove away from his Broken Arrow home with a paper bag on the front passenger seat containing $15,555 in cash. He and his wife had been arguing. Cicco left with what he said was money from their savings and a second-mortgage loan. He never imagined the cash would ... MORE
Elizabeth Nolan Brown: Uncle Sam As Uber Pimp
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Stop Predatory Policing: Close The Civl Forfeiture Loophole
by Chuck Devore. Traveling with a large amount of cash can be risky in California. An owner of a food truck from Northern California traveled to Los Angeles to make a large purchase. He had $10,000 in cash with him – not unusual, given that he operated a cash-based business. Unfortunately, his $10,000 was taken – by law enforcement. His cash was seized ... MORE
The Conservative Case For Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform
by Lance Lemmonds. On his way to purchase equipment for Smoking Roosters, his fledgling BBQ restaurant, in Staunton, Va., in August 2012, Mandrel Stuart was pulled over for having tinted windows and a video playing in the back seat of his SUV. He was handcuffed and detained for two hours without having any charges filed, but found his duffle ... MORE
Snoop Dogg Learns One Reason Bitcoin Is Better Than Cash
by Nuno Menezes. Combating civil asset forfeiture. Calvin Broadus AKA Snoop Dogg recently had another encounter with European authorities. This Saturday, Snoop Dogg was taken by surprise by the financial police in southern Italy while carrying $422,000 in cash, an amount which needs to be declared to be legally transported across European Union ... MORE
Labels:
asset forfeiture,
Bitcoin,
civil forfeiture,
currency,
incentives,
individual liberty,
money,
travel
The Corrupting Influence Of Civil Asset Forfeiture
by Jacob Sullum. According to the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys Advisory Council (APAAC),
"an asset forfeiture practice that supplements other law enforcement
activities provides an opportunity that is unique among governmental
agencies—the direct augmentation of the agency's budget through the
performance of its designated function." ... MORE
Tim Cushing: This Asset Forfeiture Case Points Out Just How Far Government Will Go To Steal The Citizens Money
Everything is probable cause that a crime was committed. A federal judge has just ordered the government to return $167,000 it took from a man passing through Nevada on his way to visit his girlfriend in California. The officers really wanted that money, too. They used two consecutive stops to jerry-rig some probable cause… even though ... MORE
New Mexico Cops Complain That State's Asset Forfeiture Ban Impedes Progress In Fighting The Failed Drug War
Police unhappy their license to steal has been revoked. Cops in New Mexico are complaining that a new law requiring them to obtain a conviction before taking residents’ property via civil forfeiture is hurting their ability to perpetuate the government’s long-failed war on drugs. New Mexico House Bill 560, which takes effect this month, effectively ... MORE
Nick Sibilla: Asset Forfeiture Laws Treat People Like ATMs
Having lots of cash is not a crime, it's just treated like one. Imagine a place where the government can seize property from people who have not broken the law. The police, sheriffs and prosecutors can auction their property off and use the proceeds to pay their own salaries. But this isn’t a Third World dictatorship. It’s California. ... MORE
TSA Finds $75,000 In Traveler’s Bag, Then Police Come Take The Money Even Though No Criminal Charges Filed
by Christopher Ingraham. Earlier today, Transportation Security Administration spokesperson
Lisa Farbstein sent the following tweet from her verified account: If you had $75,000, is this how you'd transport it? Just asking! TSA @ #RIC spotted this traveler's preferred method. pic.twitter.com/lriNbivmsT The photo, from the Richmond ... MORE
Labels:
abuse,
airport,
asset forfeiture,
civil forfeiture,
policing for profit,
theft,
transportation,
TSA
Hold Law Enforcement Accountable For Forfeiture Abuses
An editorial from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Police and prosecutors have been too happy to trample the rights of law-abiding Americans by abusing the asset forfeiture process. But Nevada authorities’ zeal to steal from unsuspecting citizens for their agencies’ gain compelled them in at least one instance to abuse the justice system ... MORE
The 'Simple' Rules For Fighting Federal Asset Forfeiture
by Scott Shackford. Why most don't bother to try. The Heritage Foundation, as part of a multipartisan effort to help educate Americans about our abuse-prone police civil asset forfeiture system, has produced a lovely pamphlet explaining how the whole racket works, complete with an illustrated story. Reason, along with the American Civil Liberties ... MORE
Policing For Profit? It's All The Rage
by Marc A. Scaringi. In Philadelphia, authorities forcibly seize a family's home and evict a mother and father after their teenage son is accused of selling $40 worth of drugs outside the home. Similarly, a woman, who is disabled and caring for her three children, brother and sister, is threatened with the loss of her home after her ... MORE
Scott Shackford: This Map Details Whether The Asset Forfeiture Laws In Your State Are Good or Awful
(Spoiler: Chances are they’re probably awful.) The liberty-loving activists at FreedomWorks has produced a useful tool to examine the quality of civil asset forfeiture laws (the rules that allow police to seize and often keep money and property from busts) across the states. They've put together a new map that grades each state and ... MORE
Jason Pye: FreedomWorks’ State Civil Asset Forfeiture Scorecard Shows Dire Need For Fundamental Reform
Government's license to steal. The presumption of innocence is a fundamental principle of the American legal system. When someone is accused of a crime, the burden is rightfully on the government to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt before a punishment is meted out. But another area of the law, known as civil asset forfeiture, allows ... MORE
Armed Robbers With Badges: 'They Took Everything'
by Jacob Sullum. Michigan legislators consider forfeiture reform. When the cops raided Ginnifer Hency's home in Smiths Creek, Michigan,
in July, "they took everything," she told state legislators last
Tuesday, including TV sets, ladders, her children's cellphones and
iPads, even her vibrator. They found six ounces of marijuana and
arrested Hency for possession ... MORE
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