{"id":43859,"date":"2014-07-25T23:49:39","date_gmt":"2014-07-26T05:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/25\/yeah-more-depressing-stories-about-civil-forfeiture.html"},"modified":"2014-07-29T13:19:19","modified_gmt":"2014-07-29T19:19:19","slug":"yeah-more-depressing-stories-about-civil-forfeiture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/25\/yeah-more-depressing-stories-about-civil-forfeiture.html","title":{"rendered":"Yeah, more depressing stories about civil forfeiture"},"content":{"rendered":"
The idea sounds good: confiscate the goods of criminals \u00a0in order to help fund the war on crime. Drug dealer is driving around a fancy Caddy? Take it from him as the proceeds of criminal activity, then convert the money from it to law enforcement assets.<\/p>\n

The problem is, civil forfeiture has a pretty low bar. It doesn't require that you be convicted for anything. \u00a0The short-term pernicious result? It incents law enforcement officials to essentially steal your car, your money, your goods as "criminal proceeds" with minimal judicial efforts, and little oversight as to where the money goes. \u00a0It's literal highway robbery, usually invoked on minor traffic violations on out-of-state or rental cars, usually against minority drivers, and \u00a0often couched as "Sign this paper to forfeit your 'criminally-gained' property, or else you'll be charged with criminal activity (and, if your children happen to be in the car with you, they'll be taken away)." In other cases, trivial vice law violations (or even just accusations) mean forfeitures of vehicles and whatever other property can be seized, proceeds going to the officers involved and their departments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If that's not bad enough, there's an additional long-term pernicious result? The money raised becomes essential to law enforcement activities, even though the officials involved are aware of the corruption and injustices that occur.<\/p>\n

'At a public hearing on July 11th, D.C.\u2019s attorney general, Irvin Nathan, acknowledged \u201cvery real problems\u201d relating to due-process rights. But he warned that millions of dollars raised by forfeiture \u201ccould very easily be lost\u201d and \u201can unreasonable burden\u201d placed on his office if the reforms supported by the Public Defender Service were enacted. He proposed more modest changes that would leave the current burden of proof untouched.<\/i><\/p>\n

'\u201cWe all know the way things are right now\u2014budgets are tight,\u201d Steve Westbrook, the executive director of the Sheriffs\u2019 Association of Texas, says. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a valuable asset to law enforcement, for purchasing equipment and getting things you normally wouldn\u2019t be able to get to fight crime.\u201d Many officers contend that their departments would collapse if the practice were too heavily regulated, and that a valuable public-safety measure would be lost.'<\/i><\/p>\n

Short-version: "Yeah, it's not right, but we can't afford to stop doing it."<\/p>\n

To protect and serve, indeed.\ufeff<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Embedded Link<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taken | The New Yorker<\/a><\/p>\n

View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The idea sounds good: confiscate the goods of criminals \u00a0in order to help fund the war on crime. Drug dealer is driving around a fancy Caddy? Take it from him as the proceeds of criminal activity, then convert the money from it to law enforcement assets. The problem is, civil forfeiture has a pretty low … Continue reading “Yeah, more depressing stories about civil forfeiture”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,17,371],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-homeland-security","category-war-on-drugs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133178,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/03\/30\/yes-civil-asset-forfeiture-is-still-a-thing.html","url_meta":{"origin":43859,"position":0},"title":"Yes, civil asset forfeiture is still a thing","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 30-Mar-17 3:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Because when law enforcement can seize cash, houses, cars, or whatever the heck they want, claiming it's the proceeds of criminal activity, but never having to win a conviction or even file charges in order to keep the property, what can possibly go wrong?'\"When seizure and administrative forfeitures do not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137805,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/02\/13\/s-carolina-sheriffs-say-they-will-only-go-after-drug-dealers-if-they-can-get-the-money.html","url_meta":{"origin":43859,"position":1},"title":"S. Carolina sheriffs say they will only go after drug dealers if they can get the MONEY","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 13-Feb-19 9:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, we're talking about civil forfeiture laws again, where basically the cops can say, \"Hey, we think this car, this money, this house, were bought by proceeds of illegal actions like drug dealing, so we're going to take them, okay, so long, bye-bye.\"While the idea of confiscating the proceeds of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49277,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/17\/a-welcome-step-toward-forfeiture-reform.html","url_meta":{"origin":43859,"position":2},"title":"A welcome step toward forfeiture reform","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 17-Jan-15 7:27pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Civil forfeiture laws have been a travesty of justice for the last few decades. They were originally designed to let \"War on Drugs\" law enforcement seize assets (airplanes, boats, etc.) alleged to be used directly in drug-running activities, but they've since turned into a cash cow for local police, who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133882,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/18\/jeff-sessions-wants-your-money.html","url_meta":{"origin":43859,"position":3},"title":"Jeff Sessions Wants Your Money","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 18-Jul-17 7:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"Should criminals be allowed to profit from their crimes? Of course not. I think everyone would agree with that.But that, then, is a \"criminal\"? Well, for most intents and purposes, we deem someone a criminal whose been found guilty of a crime, by due process, in a court of law.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6686,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/08\/04\/documented.html","url_meta":{"origin":43859,"position":4},"title":"Documented","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 4-Aug-04 12:02pm","format":false,"excerpt":"From the American Library Association (ALA): Last week, the American Library Association learned that the Department of Justice asked the Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents to instruct depository libraries...","rel":"","context":"In "Homeland Security"","block_context":{"text":"Homeland Security","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/homeland-security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133639,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/06\/10\/colorado-further-tightens-civil-asset-forfeiture-laws.html","url_meta":{"origin":43859,"position":5},"title":"Colorado further tightens civil asset forfeiture laws","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 10-Jun-17 8:57am","format":false,"excerpt":"But not enough, in my opinion. Any process that allows the state to seize your property without compensation or without charges being filed (let alone proven in court) is, if not unconstitutional, highly unethical.The corrosive effect of such laws is demonstrated by the arguments being levied against this reform act.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43859"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43945,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43859\/revisions\/43945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}