Good day all. Civil Forfeiture is a “tool” used by law enforcement ostensibly to strip criminals of their assets. The problem has been that it has been so misused by police and prosecutors that it’s a miracle someone just hasn’t opened fire and killed a few district attorneys and police/federal agents.
The problem with civil forfeiture is that it occurs even if the target isn’t charged with a crime, let alone convicted. Many local police departments use civil forfeitures to help supplement their budgets. In a number of cases, police will pull someone over who is minding their own business, search their cars and if they find any money, confiscate it. In some cases, they’ve taken tens of thousands in cash from people who were never charged with anything.
In some cities, a resident in a building might sell a couple of ounces of marijuana, without the knowledge of the owner, and before the owner knows what’s happened, they’ve had their homes seized and they’ve been thrown into the street with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs.
To top all this off, the forfeiture laws make it virtually impossible for the innocent people to get their money and property back. Still, people have challenged the seizures and won, which then brings up another problem. The property they had confiscated may have already been sold. Then they have to go back to court to recover the whatever funds were generated from the sales, and those are usually far lower then the actual value of their property.
This was actually seen as a feature, not a flaw by those who supported asset forfeiture laws, such as former Attorney General Jeff “Sleepy” Sessions. He was and is a big proponent of what amounts to legalized theft by the government. Now, people have been fighting back, and not just to get their cash and property returned. They are challenging the constitutionality of the whole asset forfeiture process, and the courts are beginning to listen. Recently a South Carolina judge ruled the states forfeiture laws was unconstitutional. Here are the details from Forbes:
Letting South Carolina police and prosecutors seize and keep cash, cars, and other valuables and use the proceeds to pad their budgets violates the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments, a circuit court judge in Horry County, South Carolina ruled.
In a 15-page decision, 15th Judicial Circuit Judge Steven H. John declared that South Carolina’s civil forfeiture laws, which let the government “seize unlimited amounts of cash and other property when no crime has been committed,” run afoul of the U.S. and South Carolina Constitutions’ guarantees of due process and bans on excessive fines.
It isn’t just the constitution of the state of South Carolina, there are serious issues with this type of seizure with regards to the United States Constitution. The whole system is ripe for abuse and has been abused at all levels by Federal, State, County and local law enforcement officials.
The court’s decision comes on the heels of a wide-ranging, multi-part investigation into civil forfeiture by the Greenville News. Across the state, South Carolina agencies seized $17.6 million between 2014 and 2016. More than 1,500 individuals (or roughly 40% of all forfeiture cases in the state) had their property taken, despite never convicted of a crime.
Their reporting further found that “65 percent of all money police seize is from black males” (like the defendant in the Horry County decision, Travis Lee Green), even though African American men account for a mere 13% of the state’s population.
To be honest, there is a 50/50 chance that that in those cases, the money stolen confiscated might actually have been involved in a crime. However, the men the funds were taken from were never arrested, they weren’t charged, they never had a trial and of course, they weren’t convicted of anything. Meanwhile, the state legislature is moving to take action to put an end to these types of forfeitures.
Galvanized by the investigation, South Carolina lawmakers, led by Rep. Alan Clemmons, backed legislation that would completely abolish civil forfeiture.
Unfortunately, the bill ran into a problem with how the state steals people’s property and stalled. This is only slowing down the legislation, it hasn’t stopped it.
Unfortunately, the bill didn’t fully account for the state’s procedural idiosyncrasies in how it forfeits property; it stalled. A fully revised version is expected for next year’s session.
“Legislative reform is by no means moot,” Clemmons said. “The bill has over 100 co-authors from across the political spectrum who want significant reforms enacted in 2020.”
As you would expect, the criminal element in Horry County is trying to get this ruling reversed.
The Horry County Solicitor’s Office has filed a motion urging Judge John to reconsider his ruling, claiming it “inaccurately described” state law; a hearing is currently slated for early December.
The head of the county solicitor’s office probably has an eye on a nice car or house he/she would like cheap. (Seized property is usually put up for auction and rarely goes for it’s actual value) Now the good news is these laws have hit the eye of the general public, (Probably due to the greed, corruption and clear abuse by law enforcement and prosecutors), and several states have abolished it.
Though the decision currently doesn’t extend statewide, if it’s appealed and upheld, or if lawmakers abolish the practice, South Carolina would become the fourth state to end civil forfeiture, joining North Carolina, Nebraska, and New Mexico.
The thing about civil forfeiture laws is that they don’t activate after someone has been convicted of a crime. They happen even if no charges are filed. The idea, generally accurate, is that it’s to much trouble for the people who were robbed by the government to fight the seizure. Even when people who do fight back and win go to recover their property, it’s usually been virtually destroyed through abuse and neglect and rendered worthless.
The idea of asset forfeiture came about when the “War on Drugs” and going after organized crime really got started. Initially, it was RICO, (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), laws were enacted. Even then, it involved actual criminal trials and involves judges, including the civil parts of the law. However, even the RICO laws have been abused and innocent people ruined.
I’m of the opinion that if the founders of our great nation were alive today and saw what was being done, they would already be organizing an armed revolt against the states and federal governments. As it is, people are taking action against these laws, and as more and more information comes out on how many innocent people are being abused, more and more will demand that these laws be either reformed or abolished in their entirety. That or some police department will take something and get a response they are not expecting or really equipped to handle. (And entirely not legal)
Thatisall
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