TheAgitator.com
IJ Takes on Asset Forfeiture
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010The Institute for Justice launched a national campaign against civil asset forfeiture today, including the video below, a comprehensive report on forfeiture policy in all 50 states, and—I hear—some litigation.
You can read my February Reason feature on forfeiture here.
great job- I felt like I back in jr. high watching movies on how life is in communist bloc countries and how lucky we are to live in a democracy…
Oh great. The Supremacy Clause is now “A federal legal loophole.” Great video otherwise.
I’ve been pissed about this law this for, like, 20 years. It’s as if the police establishment said “You know all that stuff about guilty until proven innocent? We’re going to pretend that doesn’t matter.” And the courts have been letting them get away with it.
Most amazingly, no one cares. People are protesting and breaking windows over trade policy and healthcare, but the government does this end-run around our basic rights and nobody cares.
I don’t know what can be done about any of this in the courts, but if anyone can do something, I believe IJ just might be able to.
I wish them luck, they will need it. Unfortunately it’s probably an issue that average Joe doesn’t give a shit about because it doesn’t affect them. Like SWAT raids, indefinate detention, extraordinary rendition, torture, spying on americans, and so on.
Maybe if they take Mayor Calvo’s stuff there will be some movement in Maryland.
I wonder why States don’t report forfeiture statistics…
I bet they’re just like… really shy.
I use my mother and stepfather – both rather conservative – as a bellwether for this sort of thing. It’s on their radar without me mentioning it, and they find the whole thing to be obnoxious. I think the tide is turning, if only because the legal establishment has seriously overplayed their hand.
IJ is one of handful of groups that I give money to every year.
I hate the title “Policing for Profit.”
What the cops do with asset forefiture is not profit. Profits occur from voluntary exchange.
@WindyPundit – “You know all that stuff about guilty until proven innocent?” – I think you meant it the other way around? At least in the context of how you wrote it. An ironic mistake and an easy one to make since you described the ACTUAL process that is used.
Oops! Yeah, I meant it the other way around. I’m sure I was thinking of the actual process which allows them to take your property and make you prove its legitimacy, which does work like “guilty until proven innocent.” The cops and the courts have an explanation, which is that it’s not a criminal law but a civil law, which doesn’t have a presumption of innocence. That’s an odd explanation, because I don’t know of any civil laws that allow you to take someone else’s property and make them sue to get it back.
Pigs at a food trough after they’ve been turned away:
SQUEEE! Gruntgruntgrunt, SQUEEEEEEE! SQUEEEEEEEE!”
DrugWarriors, after hearing that legislation may restrict or do away with forfeiture:
“MY MONEY! Mymoneymymoneymymoney! MY MONEYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! DON’T TOUCH MY MONEYYYYYYYY!!!!!!
(Conveniently forgetting, of course, that it was never theirs to begin with.)
Forfeiture is one ‘entitlement program’ (as in DrugWarriors thinking their ‘entitled’ to your hard-earned money) that definitely needs to be shut down by Congress.
[...] This week, the Institute for Justice has launched a national campaign against civil asset forfeiture (h/t Agitator) [...]
Funny. As tax revenue continues to decrease during a down economy, the government agencies are going to dig into the pockets of the average citizen in alternative ways and these types of activities are going to start affecting “the average joe” more and more (ie I can only imagine how traffic tickets have risen the past six months)…Anywho my ramblings are meant to say as more and more average joes are affected, the more and more people will start to care about practices like this and therefore likely get them to change these laws…The only true way to make sure it happens is to get more politically involved at all levels.
Asset forfeiture is becoming more and more pervasive in this country. To see the 600+ pages of things our Federal Gov. hopes to permanently take from its citizens see Forfeiture.gov. Your property can be seized on mere probable cause…the lowest possible standard—your house can be “arrested” and the Feds will file a lawsuit against it, preventing you from selling it or borrowing against it. If you want to get your property back—you must file a claim with strict time and form constraints. Do it wrong, you automatically lose—no day in court. (Administrative forfeiture) If you have the audacity to file a claim, you proceed with your “civil” forfeiture, and must prove with the “preponderance of the evidence” that you deserve your stuff back from the Gov’s clutches. They are allowed to present multiple arguments as to why you shouldn’t get it back.
Better have a lawyer! Worse, you may never be charged with a crime, but your property could get named in a criminal indictment. Your day in court would come at the conclusion of the criminal trial, at the ancillary hearing. The courts have ruled “4 years not too long to wait” (see US v Phillips)—ALSO, the courts have ruled that if they allege all your money is
“bad” and the Gov has seized it ( a la Allen Stanford,) 6th Amendment be damned, we’ll give you a nice public defender, because even though you are pleading innocent, your money is obviously “guilty” and there is no need
to let you use it to hire a decent lawyer (the Gov might lose that way)
[...] the Institute for Justice launched a national campaign against civil asset forfeiture (h/t Agitator). Their official website says: “civil forfeiture laws represent one of the most serious assaults [...]