Civil Asset Forfeiture Laws Need Reform

Michigan Capitol Confidential ^ | 12/15/2014 | Jarrett Skorup

[MichCapCon]

A recent CapCon story and video documented the Michigan State Police using civil asset forfeiture to freeze the bank accounts and take the property of two men for months without even charging them with a crime.

Forfeiture is a complicated process, but essentially allows for an end-run around what most people see as basic constitutional rights. Michigan should join other states, like North Carolina or Minnesota, in requiring a criminal conviction before assets can be seized. That won’t happen anytime soon, but in the meantime there are other reforms that politicians should consider during this lame-duck period.

The bill with the greatest chance is House Bill 5081, which was passed out of the House Oversight Committee last June. It now sits on the House floor. This bill would provide more transparency for the assets seized — something extremely important because law enforcement agencies use seized assets to supplement their budgets.

There are other proposals that would help change the incentives in place right now. That’s the key to respecting individual rights and a strong rule of law.

[DuncanWaring]

Forfeiture Endangers American Rights.

[I want the USA back]

These laws are wrong and unconstitutional and need to be changed.

[Wolfie]

Good luck with that. They’ve been judged constitutional by the courts (for the LAST 30 YEARS!)...and all levels of government are taking their cut. The time to stop it was back in the 80’s when it got ramped up for the Drug War. But as usual, the shortsighted American public thought they’d only be doing it to “other” people. Which should be food for thought given recent events, but I’m not holding my breath.

[reed13k]

Did it go to the SC or stop on the way? I’d like to read up on the cases.

[zeugma]

Yeah, it's been to the supreme court. Unfortunately I can't remember the specific cases, though you could probably google it. I recall reading the decisions at the time, and the 'logic' was, as is often the case, somewhat suspect at best.

Asset forfeiture needs to be gotten rid of legislatively, but there are lots of leeches that have come to really enjoy the feast they've been presented with. First thing to do is to decouple the agencies from their ill-gotten gains. If there was no profit in it for them, they'd be a lot less enthusiastic about it.

This has actually been done at the state level in at least a couple of states (proceeds go to the general fund rather than the thieves themselves). The numbers went way down after this was implemented, then they figured out that by giving federal cretins a cut, they could get around the law by obstensively doing it under fed auspices.