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.
thanks for the post. listened carefully to Jeff’s statement and rationale for it. i personally can’t find any fault in it or what he says about it whatsoever.
it sounds as if he’s consulted *all* stakeholders (unlike say healthcare in congress) in the issue. he’s tightening the protections in the program against wrongful seizure and abuse, including the claims processing to return assets to their rightful owners when applicable, what can be seized requiring the constitutional standard of “probable cause” only. all this while making sure as he says that “crime doesn’t pay” and fund criminal syndicates, drug gangs and organized crime, and is used to fund law enforcement against such entities.
i suppose you can argue about the program’s existence, but if it has to exist, then i’m glad Jeff is managing it.
This civil forfeiture business seems patently unconstitutional to me and I hope a case goes to SCOTUS and they knock it down. Way too much abuse is highly likely.
The only guidance Sessions & the Trump administration should follow on this matter is the Fourth Amendment.
Does he have the president's agreement on this? Does anyone here know?
ok....got it!
Did our Founders use “this tool” against US citizens? I didn’t think so, but I could very well be mistaken.
I couldn’t agree more.
I predict that if all these contrived, deliberate theatrics, schemes, scams and debacles continue unchallenged Trump will be out of office, resigned or impeached by Jan 20, 2019. He desperately needs Newton Leroy Gingrich or someone of his EXPERIENCE and understanding of “politics” in the position of W.H. Chief of Staff, or personal advisor to the President. If Scaramucci is that person, good, we’ll see soon enough. But Trump has lost his (our) first year already. If this continues he won’t have four.
Has anyone yet to consider that Sessions is deep state and his unbelievable recussial was part of the plan to destroy Trump?
The criterion is not what the Founders did. The criterion is what the Constitution says.
No person shall be deptived of...property without due process of law.
Sessions says that only one out of five asset seizures are contested in court, touting this as proof that most of them are legit. However, many of these seizures are not contested because the victims can’t afford the attorney’s fees, especially when the assets was small amounts of cash, and the reason for suspicion was that law abiding citizens don’t carry cash. The victims were never found guilty of any crime, but still can’t get their cash back.
“Funding priorities like new vehicles, bullet-proof vests, opioid overdose reversal kits, and better training are all paid for by asset forfeitures. In departments across this country, funds that were once used to take lives are now being used to save lives and it removes the inner instrumentalities of crimes such as illegal firearms, ammunition, explosives, and property associated with child pornography from criminals, preventing them from being able to use these tools to further their criminal acts.”
There are two giant flaws in this. While claiming it is about “illegal firearms,ammunition, explosives, and property associated with child pornography” it is fact that no one has to be convicted of a crime in order for the assets to be seized, on the “civil” not criminal MERE CLAIM that the assets are the product of or used in the commission of a crime, or crimes. Guilt, not innocence is ASSUMED, without trial when the assets are seized. Then, even when no criminal trial ever convicts the person from whom the assets are seized - it happens often enough every year, the person has to sue to proclaim they are innocent - again showing the law is about “guilty until proven innocent”.
The second thing is the whole asset forfeiture agenda becomes an institutional fundraising enterprise that takes on its own importance and priority, often enough putting that priority over and above true justice.
We need asset forfeiture to be restricted to existing proof, in a trial of guilt and guilt demonstrating the acquisition or use of assets to be seized. An additional law can be passed to provide a civil court process ahead of the criminal trial, to demonstrate to a judge the need to have assets “closed off” from a suspect, until the criminal trial is over. That can include a court order placing assets in a non-government held escrow account, by court order, requiring a subsequent court order to have the first order lifted, or placed in the governments hands.
Altogether “due process” and innocent until proven guilty should prevail.
Yes, notably, the first congress passed laws for forfeiture of ships accused of being used for illegal acts.
Impossible that no citizens ran afoul.
Do a search for... history “civil forfeiture”.
Ah!
So you’re going with “The Founders didn’t know nothing!”
I’ll give that due regard.
Much of the British legal ways were carried over. The exceptions are generally explicitly stated in the Constitution (might be some exceptions).
That’s reasonable.
I bet this is a precursor to the feds confiscating a bunch of cash from pot store owners in Washington State, Colorado and others.
My home state of Oregon is crazy leftist, but it was smart enough to ban asset seizures.
Minnows.
There’s whales that must be brought to justice.
Seize the assets of the Clinton Foundation.
Wow.. after all that work Mr. Sessions it’s probably time for another nap.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.