Posted on 07/21/2017 11:37:55 AM PDT by Ray76
Attorney General Jeff Sessions today announced a new Department of Justice policy regarding the federal adoption of assets seized by state or local law enforcement under state law.
The Department’s new policy strengthens the civil asset forfeiture program to better protect victims of crime and innocent property owners, while streamlining the process to more easily dismantle criminal and terrorist organizations.
The policy and guidelines were formulated after extensive consultation with the Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, as well as line Assistant United States Attorneys, career officials in the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS), and career Main Justice attorneys.
It IS being abused. Billions of dollars are stolen from the people without ever giving them their due process. The WOD is just an excuse that people in favor of a totalitarian state use to watch your every financial transaction and take your property.
It’s good to see that Jeff Sessions has his priorities in order...
Sheesh.
If it can be abused, there are plenty who will do such.
There’s a stretch of Hwy in TX that’s notorious for it, with many news stories about the nightmares some travelers have been through.
Only North Carolina, Montana, and Nebraska require a criminal conviction before any seizure. To New Mexico’s credit, civil forfeiture has been abolished.
Case in point the grocery store in Michigan who had their account seized for making "too many small deposits".
Making too many small deposits is NOT illegal unless you are doing it to get around bank reporting laws.
They (JBT) never claimed that they (the store) was doing it for any other reason than the one the store gave which was that they were not covered for large cash losses in case of robbery. Trotting over to the bank to deposit the cash a couple of times a day meant there was never more than $10,000 in cash in the store.
They still sized the bank account and nearly bankrupted the owner. Because they could.
So it’s just “due process” that you think the Founders didn’t understand when they wrote the Constitution- and passed civil forfeiture laws?
You just won’t let me take you seriously.
The right action is to use it correctly as the Founders did- not to give the money back to the gangs like Obama did.
I remember reading about that.
Placemark.
American Law operates on the WORDS of statutes and the Constitution. Brits don’t even have a written Constitution. Everything is precedent.
I recall during the Monica scandal, when the lamestream media were all parroting “no precedent” about something or other.
That was nonsense. Using a procedure that is prescribed in the Constitution does not require a “precedent.”
People often raise the same idiotic objection to an Article V convention.
Our Founders understood the words “due process” when they put them in the Constitution, and when they passed laws for civil forfeiture.
Arguing otherwise is just being willfully obtuse IMO.
I read the entire statement from Sessions.
It appears to me that the rights of citizens are enhanced under his new policy. Must have probable cause to seize assets, and must return them in short order if no charges are filed; and pay attorney fees to those victimized by unlawful asset forfeitures.
I don’t think the protections go far enough, but it is a big step in the right direction.
They did that and a lot more that was unconstitutional. Alien and Sedition Acts.
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