Posted on 01/26/2015 5:06:07 AM PST by csvset
Database | Civil asset forfeiture in Virginia, 2008-2013
A previous post on FR mentioned Holder's actions on this issue.
** Cold day in hell I support something that he is behind.
Yeah, by outright stealing from folks, due process be damned.
It was all fun and games when they were only doing it to the druggies.
The fascists in government really don’t want the citizens to own anything. “ownership” and “private property” are things they hate, and they do everything they can to eliminate them.
Any law that allows this seizure is invalid.
Literally, a bunch of modern day highwaymen.
Civil asset forfeiture is perfectly okay - AFTER someone has been convicted of a crime; and when the assets being forfeited are the proceeds of the criminal activity for which said someone has been convicted.
Giving law enforcement the power to seize, and then KEEP, the assets of persons who have merely been arrested, or even charged, but NOT convicted, is simply wrong.
OOPS: “Asset forfeiture is perfectly okay - etc. etc.”
I neglected to remove the word “civil” while editing my post.
No it wasn’t.
That's part of the rub for me though...who decides what property was obtained via criminal activity?
If I work by day in a legitimate job, and cook meth at night, who's to say what items I own have been purchased with proceeds from the criminal or the lawful employment and are liable for forfeiture?
This whole thing has always stunk, open for abuse and the victim has little recourse as their reputation has already been damaged even by just the accusation...
And I fully concur with your last comment that seizing and keeping in lieu of any conviction is simply wrong [THEFT ON A GRAND SCALE].
Okay.
Maybe it's time we seriously revisit our approach to our criminal code.
That would make things easier on all three branches of our government and enable us to reduce ALL of their budgets.
Maybe they could let YOU decide which assets you will keep - within the limits of your legitimate income.
The Kia vs. the Ferrari...hmmm...
As long as you could have afforded the Ferrari based on your legitimately earned income, go for it.
What we need is a prohibition against the seizure-of-assets’ benefitting the politicians in Washington.
You’ve got that right.
They’ve got themselves a cash-cow—the American working man and woman—and they’re not about to stop milking it!
You are correct.
This bill has little chance of passing.
Sadly, they have never been doing it "only to the druggies". It's always been nothing more than legalized theft and corruption.
Police should never be a profit center.
Who is to say what someone could buy with "legitimately earned income"? I've made more than a million dollars in the past 10 years if you add up all my pay over that time. Who is to say how I should spend what portion of my income?
Another point about these immoral asset forfeiture programs is that if we have to leave these evil programs in place, then the 'revenue' should go into the general fund. From past experience, we know that when that happens, the police become a lot less interested in the program.
A decade or two ago, Oregon had an initiative petition on the ballot to ban such forfeitures. The police opposed the measure, but it won the vote.
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