How Did Police Seizing Citizens’ Property Ever Become Legal ?

[humble3d]

How Did Police Seizing Citizens’ Property Ever Become Legal ??

Here’s the History of Federal Forfeiture

Civil asset forfeiture is a tool that allows law enforcement officials to seize property that they assert has been involved in certain criminal activity. Forfeiture rests on the legal fiction that property itself can be guilty of a crime. This means that police and prosecutors can seize cars, homes, money, or valuables without ever having to charge, much less convict, the property owner with a crime.

The roots of civil forfeiture can be traced back to Medieval English common law, but in the U.S., these laws only came to the forefront during the Civil War and later during Prohibition, to enable the seizure of vehicles transporting illegal alcohol.

Today, though, the use of these once-dormant laws has expanded exponentially, with the value of forfeitures measured in the billions and instances of abuse cataloged in nearly every state.

So how did we get to where we are today?

During the 1980s, federal and state law enforcement officials dramatically expanded the use of civil forfeiture as a tool in the war on drugs. Their reasoning was simple: By seizing the assets and ill-gotten gains of criminal kingpins, they could remove the financial incentive to commit crime.

In 1984, Congress went a step further. It created the Assets Forfeiture Fund and enabled law enforcement agencies to retain the proceeds of their seizures. Prior to this reform, forfeiture funds were directed to the General Fund of the Treasury. Agencies now had a direct financial stake in generating forfeiture revenues, creating a perverse incentive for some overzealous investigators to engage in a form of legalized bounty hunting.

States quickly followed suit—42 states dangerously shifted their law enforcement priorities toward the pursuit of profit. It is not surprising that with these direct financial incentives, civil forfeiture actions skyrocketed. Innocent and guilty citizens alike became targets for forfeiture.

In 2000, Congress took up the cause of innocent property owners and passed the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act (CAFRA). CAFRA afforded modest due process protections for citizens but left in place forfeiture’s perverse financial incentives. The result: A system that encourages forfeitures and is stacked against innocent property owners.

While many of these forfeitures involve people who have committed crimes, startling stories continue to surface of cops and prosecutors seizing homes, money and cars on dubious grounds and leaving innocent victims in their wake. As abuses abound, it has become clear that the system is broken and is in dire need of reform.

http://dailysignal.com/2015/06/17/how-did-police-seizing-citizens-property-ever-become-legal-heres-the-history-of-federal-forfeiture/

http://dailysignal.com/2015/06/17/law-enforcement-seizes-11000-from-24-year-old-at-airport-without-charging-him-with-a-crime/

[CODYQX4]

Stealing, Lying, and Cheating is only a crime if you aren't a puppet politician or on the board of a megacorporation, didn't you know?

[dMog]

Stealing, Lying, and Cheating is only a crime if you aren't a puppet politician or on the board of a megacorporation, didn't you know?

even though i agree with the statement...when taken in the context of the original post it is quite an oversimplification and does no justice for or against the good or the bad of the law

[smallhagrid]

When I was a kid the common sense was 'if you are ever lost - just find a cop'.

Now - if a child is lost & does that they will likely go to a foster home while their parent(s) go to jail at least for a little while, then have to fight for the privilege of bringing their child back home.

All that - just because the child played a bit of innocent hide & seek in a store ?!?

As for the truth in the losses - folks who are blind to this world defend those abusers UNTIL they wrongfully have their lives wrenched away from them for zero reasons - it happens to many folks & families every day too - and only THEN do such folks step back and say how terribly crazy this world has become.

Sure - it is all the product of over-active imaginations...

Until it is YOU being dragged through the intestines of the 'system'.

(Yes - I have been through them myself and it took YEARS with huge lawyer bills to assert my innocence until successful.)

By all means try it sometime for yourself - I assure you it will be educational.

Peace out.

[bubbada]

Cops in usa, well their having there year of publicity of being very very Bad <_<

I guess more and more People will be saying

"Si vis pacem, para bellum"

because the system is inadequate

[smallhagrid]

Si vis pacem, para bellum is a Latin adage translated as, "If you want peace, prepare for war"

[dMog]

Cops in usa, well their having there year of publicity of being very very Bad <_<

I guess more and more People will be saying

"Si vis pacem, para bellum"

because the system is inadequate

as bad as SOME cops are in the usa and for that matter Canada for the most part this is NOT the norm... i have been to countries where even tourists do not want any interaction with the police... 99.999% of police are doing very well and are certainly doing the job because they wish to be helpful to the society they live in...and yes..i have several personal and close friends that are in either the local police force,...or family members who are cops and have friends who have family members on the job ...as for the saying

"Si vis pacem, para bellum" ..... here is another that holds true since time began...ideals are peaceful... history is always violent