A new bill in Utah is looking to drastically reform asset forfeiture laws in the state. As it stands currently, police in a number of states, including Utah, are able to confiscate various assets from citizens; even if they never arrest those individuals and lay any charges on them.
Asset forfeiture is very controversial legislation and many have referred to it as “policing for profit” because it provides a financial incentive for the police to engage in certain unjust behavior.
Asset forfeiture has helped many police departments around the U.S. to earn billions of dollars. It's estimated that civil asset forfeitures bring-in over $4 billion per year, and between 1989 to 2010 it's alleged that they managed to accumulate over $12 billion by seizing various assets. Bloomberg and other media outlets have previously criticized these sorts of policing methods for having turned various police departments into what they refer to as "self-funding gangs".
Authorities at present are able to engage in civil asset forfeiture when they suspect that your property was used in a crime or if it was obtained from gains that were had from the commission of a crime. As for now, those authorities don't need to prove anything in court as far as any violent crimes being committed etc, as reasoning for wanting to take the assets. Instead, they just take. And they might ask questions later, or not.
In this segment above, John Stossel discusses the concept of civil asset forfeiture and a number of examples in how this policing method has been used to date, and what the police departments do with that money and more etc.
In the video below, Stossel again approaches the discussion of civil asset forfeiture, with help from the Institute for Justice attorney, Jeff Rowes.
They've been able to seemingly bypass 4th and 5th Amendment protections because they've targeted property assets directly rather than the owner. This is a blatant disregard for property rights and it erodes the traditional semblance of due process; that is why there are growing efforts to have this sort of policing legislation overturned.
Like the present one in Utah, with House Bill 19, that would newly require criminal prosecution and conviction of any assets, before the police would be able to finalize the forfeiture.
Pics:
Pixabay
ACU Foundation
Motherjones
Sources:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-17/police-civil-asset-forfeitures-exceed-value-all-burglaries-2014
http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2016/12/utah-bill-would-curb-policing-for-profit-via-asset-forfeiture-but-federal-loophole-remains-2/
http://www.economist.com/node/16219747