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Nationwide, proceeds from sales of seized property (homes, cars, etc.) go to the seizers. And under a federal program, state and local law enforcement can partner with federal authorities in forfeiture and reap up to 80 percent of the proceeds. This is called — more Orwellian newspeak — “equitable sharing.” No crime had been committed in the Sourovelises’ house, but the title of the case against them was Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. 12011 Ferndale St. Somehow, a crime had been committed by the house. In civil forfeiture, it suffices that property is suspected of having been involved in a crime....

It is a basic principle of American law that the government may not deprive citizens of their property without due process. But, according to the Michigan Court of Appeals, at least one Michigan statute lets the state do exactly that. When Shantrese Kinnon and her husband were arrested on drug charges in Kent County, the police searched her home and seized some property, including a GMC Denali, a Chevrolet El Camino, a motorcycle, a tablet, a laptop, and nearly $400 in cash from her purse. Even though the couple had not yet been convicted of a crime, a scheme known...

August 15, 2016 the California Assembly voted 66-8 to pass a bill that not only bolsters restrictions on state officials from seizing property without due process, but throws a wrench into federal efforts to do the same. Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) introduced Senate Bill 443 (SB443) last year. The legislation sets additional restrictions on the state to prevent abuses from civil asset forfeiture, a controversial practice that observers such as the Institute for Justice (IJ) have called “legal plunder.” SB443 passed in the state Senate last summer by a resounding 38-1 vote. But the Assembly failed to pass the...

" If some policeman thinks you’re doing something illegal, your life is over. Without money, you cannot hire a lawyer and they can just rob everything you have on a whim."

New Mexico passed a sweeping overhaul of civil asset forfeiture. Legislators say some cities' budgets are so dependent on seized assets that they disregarding the law. RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: Let's revisit a state law that emerged out of criticism of the process police use to seize assets they suspect are linked to crimes and keep those assets without having to convict the owner of anything. It's called civil asset forfeiture. Critics say it's abused by local police departments that see forfeiture as a source of funding. And New Mexico made news last summer when it passed a law ending that...

The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety has purchased several devices capable of seizing funds loaded on to prepaid debit cards to aid troopers in roadside seizures of suspected drug-trafficking proceeds. The portable card scanners are designed to be carried in law enforcement vehicles, allow troopers to freeze and seize money loaded onto a prepaid debit card, and to return money to an account whose funds were seized or frozen. The vehicle-mounted scanners are also capable of retrieving and storing limited account information from other cards as well, such as banking debit cards, credit cards and “payment account information from virtually...

--snip-- He was never charged with a crime and the state even dropped its effort to seize the money. But a trial judge wouldn't go along. And the Arkansas Court of Appeals last week refused the appeal to return the cash. --snip-- But the appellate court instead ruled that civil forfeiture cases must follow the state’s civil procedure rules, which only allow 10 days after judgment to file motions “to vacate, alter, or amend the judgment.” In short, he was too late in filing. Since Espinoza’s motion was “untimely,” the Court of Appeals dismissed his appeal.

Oklahomans whose assets are unjustly seized through the civil asset forfeiture process can recover their attorney fees under a new state law. Gov. Mary Fallin on Thursday signed legislation passed by the House and Senate that allows for the recovery of attorney fees in forfeiture cases. Republican Sen. David Holt of Oklahoma City authored the bill and says he believes it will encourage

In June 2014, the IRS seized $153,907.99 from Ken Quran's bank account - his life savings - even though he did nothing wrong. . . the IRS may seize a person's bank assets if it discovers a pattern of frequent transactions under $10,000. Banks are required to report cash transactions over $10,000 and it's a crime if one tries to avoid that reporting by purposefully keeping all transactions below that amount. The laws are intended to suss out drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime or terrorist activity. But the IRS doesn't need any evidence of wrongdoing before seizing the...

Two Communist Party MPs have prepared a draft law that reintroduces property confiscation as punishment for crimes. They propose it for many cases, including instigation of hatred, organization of mass unrest and drug trafficking. One of the bill's sponsors, Yury Sinelshikov, told business daily Kommersant that despite the fact that the law currently allows to confiscate property acquired by criminal means, in reality such measure is applied very rarely. The main reason being that once property is purchased it is very difficult to tell which funds were used for the acquisition. The MPs suggested a return to the Soviet-era practice...

Not many people make a habit of carrying large amounts of cash around. After all, thieves could steal it. How ironic, then, that a growing threat to your money are the people you'd call if your money was stolen: the police. And all because of a little-known law-enforcement tool known as civil forfeiture. It allows police departments to keep the proceeds from whatever property they seize in the course of conducting an investigation or making an arrest. You might think this means the police are simply taking huge wads of cash off of drug dealers who merit little sympathy. Unfortunately,...

Government is supposed to defend our rights, including rights to property. When it doesn't, or when in the course of its job it takes our stuff without due process, it ceases to justify its own existence, appearing to all intents and purposes like just another criminal gang. Through both criminal and civil forfeiture laws, governments can seize property used in or the proceeds of criminal activity. Criminal forfeiture requires that a person be charged and convicted of a crime to transfer title to government. That is due process. Civil forfeiture, on the other hand, allows governments to take people's stuff...

During a talk radio debate last week, Tulsa's district attorney, Steve Kunzweiler, warned that civil forfeiture reform would invite "some of the most violent people in the history of this planet" to set up shop in Oklahoma, making decapitated bodies "hung from bridges" a familiar sight in the Sooner State. Last month, Steve Jones, an assistant district attorney, told Tennessee legislators "criminals will thank you" for making it harder to confiscate people's property. These are the noises that cops and prosecutors make when people talk about restricting their license to steal. A new report from the Institute for Justice, which...

Between 1989 and 2010, U.S. attorneys seized an estimated $12.6 billion in asset forfeiture cases. The growth rate during that time averaged +19.4% annually. In 2010 alone, the value of assets seized grew by +52.8% from 2009 and was six times greater than the total for 1989. Then by 2014, that number had ballooned to roughly $4.5 billion for the year, making this 35% of the entire number of assets collected from 1989 to 2010 in a single year. According to the FBI, the total amount of goods stolen by criminals in 2014 burglary offenses suffered an estimated $3.9 billion in property losses....

The Department of Justice took $4.5 billion in private property including cash, cars and homes from Americans in 2014, which includes both civil and criminal forfeitures, according to a report from the Institute for Justice.A majority, or 87 percent, of the forfeitures by the government from 1997 to 2013 were civil forfeitures, while only 13 percent were criminal.“Under civil forfeiture laws, the government can seize this property on the mere suspicion that it is connected to criminal activity,” the report, entitled “Policing for Profit,” said. “No charges or convictions are required.”“Every year, police and prosecutors across the United States take...

There has been abundant interest in the topic of civil forfeiture in Michigan recently. The Mackinac Center first published a study on this issue in the late 1990s, but we have highlighted the problems with this policy more in recent years. Last year, Michigan Capitol Confidential broke several stories about state residents who had their property seized for over a year before being charged with a crime. The news service also highlighted stories about people losing their property without law enforcement ever pursuing charges. This year, we talked to legislators, hosted events, debated, teamed up with allies, pointed out polling...

The Michigan state Senate unanimously passed a seven-bill package on Wednesday to require more transparency, and a higher standard of evidence before law enforcement agencies can take ownership of seized cash and property alleged to have been obtained illegally. The bills have already passed the House and with this vote are now heading to Gov. Rick Snyder. The bills do not affect initial property seizures by police, but what happens to the property afterwards. They reform the process of the government taking ownership of seized property, called forfeiture, in two ways: First, they require a higher legal standard of "clear...

The first time Ted Nelson realized something was wrong with civil asset forfeiture occurred when he was training police officers around the state on the practice. “Many of the narcotics teams were seizing items such as furniture and televisions. I don’t think they were concerned with showing that they were obtained through illegal proceeds,” said Nelson, who was a Michigan State Police officer for 26 years until he retired in 2000. He stays actively engaged in law enforcement policy and speaks publicly for LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Nelson participated in a number of seizures himself and said the civil...

Findings of a recent poll suggest that most Americans are unfamiliar with civil asset forfeiture laws, a highly controversial policy that lets police and prosecutors seize private property — including cash, vehicles, and homes — without ever convicting the owner of a crime, or in some cases, even arresting the person. In a Huffington Post/YouGov survey released Aug. 28, nearly 3 of every 4 respondents (72 percent) answered no when asked if they had heard of the term “civil asset forfeiture.” A majority wrongly believed that an individual’s property can be seized “only if the person has been charged with...

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office has agreed to change two of the most scrutinized aspects of its civil forfeiture program - a $6-million-a-year juggernaut aimed at taking cash and property out of the hands of drug dealers. In federal court filings this week, city lawyers agreed to limit their practice of barring homeowners from properties tied up in forfeiture proceedings until the case has made its way before a judge. Prosecutors also said they would no longer enforce several controversial requirements routinely included in deals struck with property owners to settle forfeiture cases. Those include restrictions blocking relatives accused of...