Forfeiture: legalized bribery
Looks like civil forfeiture/seizure is in the news again. For all practical purposes, forfeiture has become legalized bribery. For drug dealers, it’s a cost of doing business; for the cops, it’s a way of institutionalizing hush payments. The cops take the money, the criminal gets to go free.
In 2008 there was about 2.8 billion dollars taken by federal law enforcement without any charge. Eighty percent of “criminals” whose assets were taken by the feds were never charged. If those billions truly were taken from criminals, what’s the difference between this and bribery? And that’s just the federal government. Another billion or more is taken in by local authorities.
The only people who win are drug dealers. The innocent lose. Their money or property is gone; they can’t get it back except by proving it innocent—and can only do this on the government’s timetable.
Take a look at the case of Anthony Smelley. Sounds suspicious enough, but think about it: if Smelley were a drug dealer, he just paid the cops to look the other way; if he’s innocent, the cops just stole the money from him. It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone except drug dealers and corrupt police departments.
Or take a look at RowerinVA’s comments on the Volokh Conspiracy. He’s trying to justify the practice by saying that his clients, who he knows are guilty, don’t want the money back. To them, it’s just a cost of doing business.
The police aren’t interested in finding them, because they are a source of funds. Asset forfeiture was one of the worst things to happen to prohibition enforcement. Enforcing our drug laws has never been successful, but letting the police and the state make money off of drug dealers means that some departments, cities, and states, just as with speeding, rely on at least a certain number of criminals in order to make their budget. These localities and law enforcement agencies need more drug dealers.
Forfeiture has become a means for criminals to get off free, and the innocent to suffer.
- Asset Forfeiture: “A License to Steal”: Ilya Somin at Volokh Conspiracy
- “In many cases, the authorities hold on to the seized property for months at a time without giving innocent owners any opportunity to contest the seizure whatsoever. If that isn’t deprivation of property without due process, it’s hard to see what is.”
- The Forfeiture Racket: Radley Balko at Reason Magazine
- “Over the past three decades, it has become routine in the United States for state, local, and federal governments to seize the property of people who were never even charged with, much less convicted of, a crime. Nearly every year, according to Justice Department statistics, the federal government sets new records for asset forfeiture. Municipalities have come to rely on confiscated property for revenue. Police and prosecutors use forfeiture proceeds to fund not only general operations but junkets, parties, and swank office equipment.”
- Take the Money and Run: Radley Balko
- “The crazy perversities of civil asset forfeiture.”
More forfeiture
- Turning crime into a profit center
- Asset forfeiture and traffic laws have one dangerous thing in common: they turn danger into a profit center for government.
- Wachovia fines encourage drug trafficking
- Some people are wondering why no one at Wachovia went to jail for money laundering. The authorities received 160 million dollars in forfeiture and fines. Why would they want to discourage future banks from acting as Wachovia did?
- Presumed Guilty: The Law’s Victims in the War on Drugs
- ”It’s a strange twist of justice in the land of freedom. A law designed to give cops the right to confiscate and keep the luxurious possessions of major drug dealers mostly ensnares the modest homes, cars and cash of ordinary, law-abiding people. They step off a plane or answer their front door and suddenly lose everything they've worked for. They are not arrested or tried for any crime.”