The New Yorker provided a detailed look at civil forfeitures in this story from 2013. The study provides the most comprehensive examination of civil forfeiture laws and forfeiture statistics yet compiled.
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Further, the new law eliminated financial incentives for law enforcement agencies to seize property by prohibiting forfeiture money from funneling into agency accounts. Eighty percent of those proceeds came from cash forfeitures.
Virginia’s civil forfeiture laws also suffer from a troubling lack of transparency.
The controversial policing practice in which law enforcement seize private property regardless of whether or not its owner is charged with a crime has skyrocketed in the last decade, according to a new report. And in that is not counting another $69 million Tennessee cops officers agencies received between 2000 & 2013 by way of a U.S. Department of Justice asset-splitting program generally known as equitable sharing.
CT is one of only two states-Oregon is the other-that breaks forfeitures down between civil and criminal. No charges or convictions are required.
The report also highlights cases of alleged abuse in which innocent citizens have their property seized by police and are then forced to “navigate a confusing, complex and often expensive legal process to try to win it back”.
This past year, the state ended civil forfeiture and replaced it with criminal forfeiture laws, requiring that the government first convict a property owner in criminal court before any property may be seized. Such financial incentives, combined with weak protections for property owners, increasingly put people’s property at risk. This system often allows law enforcement agencies to completely bypass any regulations placed by states to restrain the profit motive for law enforcement agencies by either requiring more proof before they can seize assets or permitting them to keep only a smaller percentage (or none) of what they seize. “They instead create processes that make it easier for law enforcement to seize and forfeit and they make it extremely hard for property owners to get their properties back once their properties are seized”.
Nationwide, forfeiture revenue has exploded. In states where more complete data was available, the report also found that forfeiture revenues had grown rapidly since 2000. And state and local police departments aren’t hesitating to take this more direct path to profits, as equitable sharing payments from the Justice Department totaled almost $650 million in 2013.
Most cases of property seizure are conducted under civil forfeiture laws, which don’t require a criminal conviction like criminal forfeiture does. The institute obtained fund data from the Iowa County Attorneys Association, which receives 10 percent of forfeiture proceeds. It graded Iowa’s civil forfeiture laws with a D-. “The best solution would be to simply abolish civil forfeiture”.
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In January, the Justice and Treasury Departments announced policy changes to the equitable sharing program purportedly meant to curb the practice. Only 13 percent of the Department of Justice’s forfeitures were criminal forfeitures-meaning somebody had been convicted of a crime. Advocates have already been successful in places like New Mexico, MI and Washington, D.C. But the Institute for Justice’s new report card on state civil forfeiture laws shows just how much work there is left to do. Once the government takes control of a person’s property, it’s typically sold off, sending proceeds back the police departments and legal offices that worked the case. AFP Classes Augusta Free Press offers a series classes on website design, marketing strategy, social media, event planning and more. Whether you need a cover, layout, or need help from start to finish, we are here to help!. AFP Book Publishing Augusta Free Press Publishing has produced books in-house and assisted more than 17 authors with book publishing and production services since 2003.
