Announcement

Collapse

Civics 101 Guidelines

Want to argue about politics? Healthcare reform? Taxes? Governments? You've come to the right place!

Try to keep it civil though. The rules still apply here.
See more
See less

Eric Holder limits civil forfeiture severely

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Eric Holder limits civil forfeiture severely

    This program allowed police officers, under federal law, to take large amount of cash from drivers and refuse to give it back unless they could prove in court they legally earned the money. Holder is still allowing civil forfeiture in the case of materials involved with drug trafficking or child pornography.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/invest...pisrc=al_alert
    "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

  • #2
    Good news. Step in the right direction. Civil asset forfeiture should be repealed legislatively.

    Comment


    • #3
      It is a bad law. How does one "prove" that the money they have in their possession at any given moment was legally earned? Further, it can cost even more in lawyer fees to try to get back what was seized.

      I'm always still in trouble again

      "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
      "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
      "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

      Comment


      • #4
        It was a classic example of "guilty til proven innocent".
        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

        Comment


        • #5
          Good. Civil forfeiture is a useful tool, but I've never thought it fair to allow such seizures pre-conviction (or indeed without charges ever even being sought). My state requires a conviction for the crime the property is related to before a disposition on the seizure is settled. But we're one of the few that do. Course, that's state law...so I'm not sure what our level of participation is in the federal stuff. IMO the feds don't want to pick up any local cases unless it involved a gross violation, offender with prior convictions, or its just a slam-dunk case (or some combination thereof). If the Feds do pick it up, though...the offender's pretty much done for.
          "If you believe, take the first step, it leads to Jesus Christ. If you don't believe, take the first step all the same, for you are bidden to take it. No one wants to know about your faith or unbelief, your orders are to perform the act of obedience on the spot. Then you will find yourself in the situation where faith becomes possible and where faith exists in the true sense of the word." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

          Comment


          • #6
            Property is guilty until proven innocent and most states don't need to convict the owners of anything. John Oliver did a good bit about it.
            Last edited by Pentecost; 01-19-2015, 01:04 PM.
            Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? -Galatians 3:5

            Comment


            • #7
              It's called an attempt to redeem your legacy near the end of a long corrupt career stretch. But, yeah, we'll take what we can get.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by seanD View Post
                It's called an attempt to redeem your legacy near the end of a long corrupt career stretch. But, yeah, we'll take what we can get.
                Given who we're dealing with, I'm guessing that him or his family may have had property that civil forfeiture would have turned up some nasty things. None of it can possibly be worse than Fast and Furious, so this is still a net positive.

                Comment


                • #9
                  It turns out that this limiting of civil asset forfeiture is not as 'severe' as initially reported.

                  http://reason.com/blog/2015/01/19/ho...holders-forfei

                  "Holder's order applies only to "adoption," which happens when a state or local agency seizes property on its own and then asks the Justice Department to pursue forfeiture under federal law. "Over the last six years," the DOJ says in the press release announcing Holder's new policy, "adoptions accounted for roughly three percent of the value of forfeitures in the Department of Justice Asset Forfeiture Program." By comparison, the program's reports to Congress indicate that "equitable sharing" payments to state and local agencies accounted for about 22 percent of total deposits during those six years. That means adoptions, which the DOJ says represented about 3 percent of deposits, accounted for less than 14 percent of equitable sharing. In other words, something like 86 percent of the loot that state and local law enforcement agencies receive through federal forfeitures will be unaffected by Holder's new policy."

                  So, it's a step in the right direction, but there's a long way to go yet.

                  Comment

                  Related Threads

                  Collapse

                  Topics Statistics Last Post
                  Started by little_monkey, Yesterday, 04:19 PM
                  6 responses
                  45 views
                  0 likes
                  Last Post whag
                  by whag
                   
                  Started by whag, 03-26-2024, 04:38 PM
                  42 responses
                  230 views
                  0 likes
                  Last Post whag
                  by whag
                   
                  Started by rogue06, 03-26-2024, 11:45 AM
                  24 responses
                  104 views
                  0 likes
                  Last Post Ronson
                  by Ronson
                   
                  Started by Hypatia_Alexandria, 03-26-2024, 09:21 AM
                  32 responses
                  176 views
                  0 likes
                  Last Post Hypatia_Alexandria  
                  Started by Hypatia_Alexandria, 03-26-2024, 08:34 AM
                  73 responses
                  289 views
                  0 likes
                  Last Post Hypatia_Alexandria  
                  Working...
                  X