Minnesota ends civil asset forfeiture!

[Balog]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2014/05/07/minnesota-forfeiture-reform/

Great news! Let's hope more states follow suit.

[Hawkmoon]

Great news, indeed, and I join in the hope that other states will follow suit.

I don't especially object to the proven ill-gotten gains of criminal activity being forfeit ... except that I think it should go back to the people who were hurt by the crime(s). I have never been happy with the notion that a police department could just walk in and say, "Hey, we'll take that."

It is disgraceful but hardly surprising that police departments support such asset forfeiture laws. I know of one small-town police department not far from my home town that has a nice, shiny Corvette for the D.A.R.E. officer to drive around in, thanks to a civil forfeiture. IMHO all such should be charged and prosecuted as federal 1863 violations -- Deprivation of rights under color of law.

The real shame is that the courts have allowed this to take place. Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence, and the requirements for due process?

[Ben]

Interesting article on civil asset forfeiture. Maybe there's background stuff I don't know, but I don't believe there should be any means of asset forfeiture for those suspected of a crime. If you find someone guilty, and their assets were acquired with dirty money, that's a different story. Even then, the money should NOT go to the policing or prosecuting authority. Put it towards a fund completely separate so that it doesn't tempt LE into abuse of power to buy new toys.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/09/policing-for-profit-lawmakers-advocates-raise-alarm-at-growing-govt-power-to/

[Perd Hapley]

http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=44282.0

[Ben]

Topics merged.

[cordex]

That is very good news and I would like to see it adopted everywhere, with Ben's additional stipulation that no seized goods would go to any enforcement division, nor - I would add - to any entity that controls or influences an enforcement division (such as a town council that controls funding for a PD, for instance). That is one of the most perverse laws on the books, and that is truly saying something.