Civil asset forfeiture is a gross policing practice which has swept up far too many innocent individuals and been used to illegitimately acquire billions of dollars in funds for various departments. This money has arguably gone toward funding a variety of frivolous endeavors and objects such as clowns, coffee makers, cameras, computers, and much more.

As the public has increasingly grown aware of the injustices taking place because of this legislation, it's prompted moves to push for legislative changes in various states around the country.

This image above details how much of the money being taken via civil asset forfeiture gets to be kept by the police themselves, some states have rules in place which require those funds to be funneled into other areas.

If the officers know that their department is going to have more funds to buy a variety of trinkets and toys, you might assume that this could easily prompt them to more frequently try to target individuals in the hopes of taking away their valuable property. In many circumstances, the people being targeted who have their property taken were never convicted of any wrongdoing. It is a travesty to have any individual in the United States or elsewhere, have their property stolen from them from a group that alleges to have been tasked to provide them security and protect them. And then to require those individuals to front the cost of proving their innocence in court or that of their property; this doesn't read like the concept of being innocent until proven guilty, does it?

Different states have sought to radically reform their civil asset forfeiture laws, some of them making changes of where the money goes, or changes that require a conviction before property can be taken etc.

Some states have even looked to abolish the practice entirely. But even when those promises of making things different have been imposed, we see little results in the way of change.

Take Maine for example, they sought to make changes years ago that would ultimately curb asset forfeiture abuse. Funds from asset forfeiture were supposed to be placed into a general state fund but they found out that much of the proceeds being collected from the property hadn't gone into the fund. It's alleged that law enforcement has been neglecting to enforce the law for several decades and that they are still directly benefiting from this controversial practice.

Words on paper, promising change, are worthless unless they are going to be upheld.

If the changes to curb the corruption aren't going to be enforced then we should also assume that legislative changes to fix this mess too won't be the appropriate solution. In Maine, it's reported that they're pulling in hundreds of thousands of dollars every year from this practice.

The U.S. Supreme Court will also be weighing in on the topic, as they are expected to review this policy and soon determine whether or not this practice does violate what are believed to be Constitutionally-protected rights. Will it deliver a long overdue blow to the practice? or will it uphold a policy that many believe poses a great risk to the rights of Americans? We'll have to wait and find out.

Pics:
[pic 1 - pixabay]
pic 2 – IJ

Related Posts:

Civil Asset Forfeiture Is Theft

What Has Civil Asset Forfeiture Been Funding?

DOJ Looks To Ramp Up Asset Forfeiture Across The U.S.

Kentucky Farmer Fights Back Against Civil Asset Forfeiture