A variety of government agencies, like the DEA, FBI, and others, have been able to confiscate billions of dollars in assets from Americans in a practice that's known as civil asset forfeiture.
Law enforcement agents across the country have been confiscating these assets, without having to secure a conviction and prove any guilt.
And once they take the assets (cash, house, car etc) it is then up to the person to hire their own legal representation to try and fight in order to get their property returned to them.
Most people can't afford the thousands of dollars that it is likely to cost them to try and endure the legal battle to seek justice in this sort of situation. And because many people cannot afford it, they are simply going to lose their assets.
Civil asset forfeiture has been deemed an unconstitutional and unjust practice by a variety of legal scholars, civil liberties advocates, various political figures, human rights advocates, and others.
The Constitution sets out protections that are supposed to ensure that an individual has a right to due process. However, if citizens are having their assets confiscated without any conviction of a crime; where's due process?
One federal judge from Indiana just a few months ago ruled that such actions were in violation of the Constitution, that was because she didn't see it as providing the victims with a timely hearing so that they could try to contest the seizure of their property.
Many states have tried to push back against the practice and set their own rules, requiring a conviction before property can be taken, though the practice is still ongoing in many areas today.
Law enforcement officials, like the former LAPD deputy chief Stephen Downing, have previously said that civil asset forfeiture was first passed under the guise that it would be used to take assets from 'drug kingpins'. But we can see that it's being used for a lot more than that and more often than not it seems that innocent people are being swept up in it and being wrongfully victimized.
There is an effort currently underway in Alabama that is seeking to put an end to this practice of taking property before any criminal conviction is secured.
That group consists of various organizations who want the state to make changes so that law enforcement first has to have a criminal conviction before taking anything from American citizens, they want to eliminate the clear profit motive that there is attached to this method of policing.
You shouldn't be considered guilty until proven innocent; a founding principle of justice.
There is also a bipartisan group of senators who are looking to eliminate the program to some extent as well. They want to prevent it from being expanded in the way that Jeff Sessions' had earlier indicated he had planned to do. A group of senators, including Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and others, have recently released a letter that calls for the passage of a law that would restrict the DOJ from enacting civil asset forfeiture programs; seeking to defund the program.
Pics:
Pixabay
via lawlessons
via the University Star/ Maria Tahir
Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/04/11/its-time-to-rethink-how-our-federal-agencies-seize-cash-and-property.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2017/11/08/another-civil-asset-forfeiture-outrage-2/?utm_term=.fdf43a1b9fd1
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/senators-push-to-defund-justice-departments-expansion-of-civil-asset-forfeiture/article/2640041
https://www.civilized.life/articles/senate-eliminate-jeff-sessions-civil-asset-forfeiture/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2017/08/31/federal-judges-rules-indiana-seizing-cars-with-civil-forfeiture-is-unconstitutional/#7795331d3da5
https://www.splcenter.org/news/2017/11/06/diverse-groups-hold-forum-civil-asset-forfeiture
https://star.txstate.edu/2016/03/27/civil-asset-forfeiture-allows-for-abuse-of-police-power/
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They also do this stuff in Canada and its total B.S !!! There's no innocent until proven guilty ! Its pay for a damn good lawyer to prove your innocent !! upped and resteemed😳😣😠😞😱😡
Excellent and timely post, about an issue that deserves exposure. In fact, everyone should know about this insidious initiative by the powers-that-be.
To realize that this is happening in the USA is rather shocking. (Although there are many who say it's not even surprising, given the developments in policing over the past few decades.)
Even one instance of this theft (euphemistically called "asset forfeiture") is disturbing, and should be enough to be a call to arms, or at least a loud clarion call to resist.
That it proceeds, with little exposure and little resistance, is unsettling and ominous.
Peace and Freedom.
Thanks for telling the truth!
yes
@doitvoluntarily - Really Great post!! Thank You - Civilians all across the US are being taken every single day by our govt and everyone in Washington just turns a blind eye as they all get a piece of the cake in some form or another...
If we as Americans do nothing, nothing will change..
Rising Up individually and as a collective sum is the only way that we can overcome the injustices faced by so many righteous and deserving people
If you listen to Jeff Berwick, if police in mexico do this kind of thing too often, they find themselves missing their head.
We, in The US are so indoctrinated, we have to ask the govern-cement, please stop robbing us.
Unfortunately if these corrupt people are allowed to retain ANY power over us they'll do what they need to in order to get the money. If they need a conviction to get the money they'll be motivated to do whatever they can to get it. More people will go to jail instead of just getting robbed.
It isn't enough to require a conviction. The corrupt cops, lawyers, judges, and law makers will continue to abuse us as long as we allow them to have power.
The US government, the biggest terrorist and extortion organization in world history.
Blattant liars, thieves, and racist thugs, what they do to poor communities with the proposterous war on drugs deffies comprehension!
It's not just feral (def's 2 & 3) and State agencies that are getting rich from this practice.
Municipal police departments are making up for budget shortfalls the same way.
It won't be long before they'll be able to seize your Trezor and compel you to open it because there's no legitimate reason for you to have one.
Absolute theft.
Mmm money money
💵Politicians are very lucky because people don't think🔰🙀
Goverment are ....
To rude to say, they want it all
It's when I try to consider how we revoke these kind of practices that I fall deep into that hole they've named for rabbits.
No victim, no crime.
CAF is legalized larceny. Ironically many governments that use and abuse CAF have become just like the criminal enterprises the law was designed to undermine.
People get due process rights, but our property doesn't. Because you know, that the stuff we own has free will and routinely acts without checking with us first (sarc).
That is injustice , no doubt. This shouldn't go on.
It seems to be all about greed rather than law and justice. Law enforcement agencies are hungry for the green stuff. And their addiction to greed has overpowered their integrity for justice. What happened to checks and balances? Shame on them. Cities have shown their greed with traffic cameras to collect revenue. I sense we are no longer in a world ruled by justice but justice suffocated in a world of greed. Thanks for sharing as it is valuable to shed light on this subject.
Is there anything that the government does which is not theft?