The Battle Against Civil Asset Forfeiture
You might assume that today in the United States a person would first need to be charged with a crime before they can have their property confiscated by authorities. Unfortunately though, that old idea of due process has changed quite a bit in recent years; law enforcement officials and prosecutors around the US have confiscated billions in assets from many people who have never been convicted of any wrongdoing.
People have had their cash taken away, their cars, boats, and houses, and then they've been left with the only option to take up the hefty legal cost of fighting in court to try and get their assets back. Before they get their assets back though they are going to need to prove that their property is innocent of any wrongdoing and this can be extremely difficult to prove. For many Americans who do have their property taken in this manner, they ultimately choose to let it go seeing as they can't afford to take up the battle to try and get it back.
This highly controversial practice is known as civil asset forfeiture and law enforcement agents all around the country have been engaging in this practice for years now. It's estimated that this practice has helped to reap an incredible amount of wealth for the state, more than $12 billion.
As more people have fallen victim to this seemingly unconstitutional and unjust procedure, there has been a growing fight and pressure from the public to make changes in trying to prevent the police from engaging in this activity.
Many states have passed their own rules surrounding asset forfeiture, trying to turn things back into the direction of traditional due process procedures; requiring convictions before assets are taken in this way.
Because of the seeming abuse surrounding this policy, a number of critics have suggested that the policy should be scrapped altogether. Let's get back to traditional policing methods of proper charge and conviction procedures, before we go about trying to take the property of others. However, despite the ongoing fight to try and stop the abuse, many law enforcement professionals still insist that it's a necessary policy and that includes the current Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Supreme Court has also previously ruled that they see this policy as being in-line with the Constitution, a decision which many Constitutional experts adamantly disagree with.
The US DOJ just recently announced several weeks ago that they were going to ramp-up this process of asset forfeiture, despite the small success that has been had in recent years to try and push back against this controversial policing-for-profit type of method. But the fight isn't over just yet, many activists and legal professionals etc, remain passionately dedicated to fighting in an effort to try and curb the prevalence of asset forfeiture around the country.
One lawsuit in Arizona recently got the green light from a federal judge to go ahead and move forward. A woman there had her truck seized because of something her son allegedly did. The lawsuit there is going to be highlighting the abusive actions of law enforcement and prosecutors to seize property without paying mind to due process.
The civil asset forfeiture policy is painted as one which is intended to take away funding from drug dealers, but it has been used for a lot more than that. It has repeatedly been said that this policing tactic has enabled an incredible amount of widespread abuse to occur, fueling what has been referred to as one of the biggest threats to property rights that Americans face today.
Pics:
Pixabay
Clipart Panda via clipartpanda.com/categories/court-clipart-free
diysolarpanelsv.com/grab-clipart-black-and-white.html
NetRight via netrightdaily.com/2016/04/nebraska-takes-lead-in-eliminating-civil-asset-forfeiture-feds-reinstate-it/
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States
http://www.ocregister.com/2016/12/07/law-that-lets-police-seize-assets-26-billion-in-2015-raises-questions/
http://reason.com/blog/2017/03/29/the-dea-seized-4-billion-from-people-sin
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/07/sessions-forfeiture-justice-department-civil/534168/
http://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-ruling-on-civil-forfeiture-2014-11
http://ij.org/report/policing-for-profit/
http://kjzz.org/content/522980/lawsuit-challenging-arizona-civil-asset-forfeiture-laws-proceed
Related Posts:
DOJ Looks To Ramp Up Asset Forfeiture Across The U.S.
https://steemit.com/news/@doitvoluntarily/doj-looks-to-ramp-up-asset-forfeiture-across-the-u-s
It's Past Time To Get Rid Of Asset Forfeiture
https://steemit.com/news/@doitvoluntarily/it-s-past-time-to-get-rid-of-asset-forfeiture
Crypto is the fuuuuture !
It's one of the most evil laws on the books. And the shithead in the white house is a big fan.
One question what is important for you life or money ?
💵 💵 💵 💰 💰 💰 💵 💵 💵
money is important in this social system we live in. But, of course money isn´t everything. Other tools like safety, love, family, and being responsible for our lives and do the best we can as member of this huge society.
You need money to live homie lol
If we didnt have a broken system where government intervenes at will in almost every facet of our lives money wouldnt be as important. People could make money to support themselves more ways and Im willing to bet this would affect property value prices as well. You dont need much to live happily if your mind is in right place and values. Best answer I can give lol
Not to mention the folks in the "legalized" pot businesses that get raided and money gets confiscated even though they are working "within the law". The Government doesn't have a vested interest in stopping the flow of easy money.
It is not legal in the US it is only legal in the states which means the state government will not enforce the federal drug laws leaving it up to the IRS DEA and FBI to go in and bust em up. We need a Constitutional Amendment to the US federal constitution to stop these legal drug busts. But so long as you are under the medical license and the FDA has approved certain CBD and THC liquids those are legal. But yeah the US needs to legalize or at least decriminalize drugs. But that would severely decrease the budgets of the DEA and Law Enforcement in general including all the Narcotics divisions and increase the governments role in addiction counseling and we all know the government doesnt give a shit about its citizens. Thats why we need to have more powerful states and states Militias so when the FBI comes into town the Sheriff and the Militia pull out their 300 Blackout AR-15's and say "check yourself at the border mofo! We ain't down with your Federal bullshit anymore! Keep your paper money and we will handle our own shit the way we want to". Thats what a Libertarian thinks anyway
Thank you for your comment. My point was to illustrate the similarity between asset forfeiture and the gray area used by state and local authorities when they are doing dispensary or farming business inspections (safety, compliance, yada yada) in the legal states (rec or med).
The state and local governments are not enforcing or following federal laws, they are using the inspection process as a way to bully legal business into submission. I'm not generalizing all governments, just the areas I'm familiar with.
Again, thank you for participating.
They need to be buying and selling using BTC-CANN crypto.
https://bittrex.com/Market/Index?MarketName=BTC-CANN
I bought 420 token a few days ago just to support the cause.
Thank you for your comment. I'm sure folks are getting into alt-coins more these days.
I was told that it's legal on a state level, but illegal on a federal level in the US. So the state won't raid you, but the feds might.
I don't imbibe but a know people in the industry and yes the state, county, and local governments do this all the time using bogus seizures due to "code violations". The fence is too short. You are using the wrong kind of lock. The label is too narrow. Etc. Etc. Etc. They suspend your license or slap a bloated fine. Court costs for the appeal hearing and so on. By the time you get your situation squared away, you lost your entire crop. Essentially it's an extortion tool. Read the fine print...
Thanks for the reply, I had never considered these situations happening. Though I must say, it doesn't surprise me, with those people, everything is possible.
It's Official. The british parliament's USA corporation is an ongoing criminal enterprise.
I won't say all politicians are corrupt. Just the ones that take money.
You sir are on another level than most folks. John Adams ;)
You are most welcome
I didn't think that such arbitrariness could be in US. If it is so, then it's gonna protect laws of rich people and their money
Omg! It should shock me that our government is doing this... but it doesn't. This country is becoming a scary place to live in.
The state is made up only of thieves, robbers, and murderers.
Thieves engage in thievery, this is not surprising.
The People are the ones who are allowing this to go on. None of it could happen if the People decided it to be unacceptable. The true tyrants are all around us. They have only pretended to abrogate their power to the psychopaths of the state. Their tacit approval is why tyranny still occurs, without this approval, it would be impossible.
So much for the old saying, "innocent until proven guilty". This is one of the reasons why people don't and will never trust the government. If things like this can happen to law abiding citizens then why would anyone place any faith in the government, that they are looking out for our best interest.
agreed...even the TSA confiscates things - they once tore open a ziplock bag of miniature whisky bottles I was taking home and stole some bottles from it .. they did it purposely and blatantly because I protested having to check them at the gate .. I told them that I wanted to carry them on because I was concerned about them being stolen...this offended them and after threatening to get the police involved , I conceded to checking them....when I got home - bag was torn open and bottles missing.....another self-fulfilling prophecy. It's not like I ever trusted the TSA to begin with (what with over 400 arrests for theft)... but now I have a personally justified DISTRUST of them altogether
What will it take for Americans to realize that they live under a totally corrupt and criminal government? Are they (the government) any different than the mafia? No, they are much worse because they have deemed it legal. I left 10 years ago, and don't regret the decision one bit. As a matter of fact, posts like this only justifies my leaving even more so. But I was aware of all of this at the time, and it's even worse now. I am amazed that people are just starting to realize it. Better late than never I guess.
Great write up and info! When I got busted for weed years back. They found a few seeds and stems in my ash trey. (High school kid smoking that dirt weed) in court the document showed they found seeds stems buds and bags with green leafy substances in them. I wasn't even able to plead my case. BOOK 'em Danno.
Innocent until proven guilty my A$$