Jeff Sessions should drop his expansion of civil asset forfeiture
Jeff Sessions should reconsider his plan to expand the use of civil asset forfeiture in the service of the so-called war on drugs. If he fails to do so, Congress should reconsider it for him — indeed, Congress ought to act on asset-forfeiture reform irrespective of the attorney general’s views on the matter. Seizing an American’s property because a police officer merely suspects that he might be a drug dealer … does gross violence to the basic principle of due process.
There is such a thing as criminal forfeiture, but what is at issue is mainly civil forfeiture, meaning property seizures that are conducted under civil law rather than the criminal-justice process, which has more robust protections and higher standards of evidence. This produces perverse outcomes in which American citizens are punished by their government for crimes with which they have not even been charged, much less convicted. In the past decade, the Drug Enforcement Administration alone has seized some $3 billion in cash from people who have not been charged with any crime.
Original Article (National Review):
Jeff Sessions Should Drop His Expansion of Civil Asset Forfeiture
Artwork Fair Use: Joseolgon
