Civil Asset Forfeiture: Stealing Other People's Stuff is a Crime When Someone Else Does It, But It's "Community Safety" When Police Do It
This tweet accidentally revealed an uncomfortable truth about law enforcement
Civil forfeiture, as it is allowed today, is theft, plain and simple. Civil forfeiture has been dramatically abused by authorities nation wide and must be stopped.Civil forfeiture takes the tools of crime and turns them into tools for community safety.— PDAA & PDAI (@PennsylvaniaDAs) May 23, 2016
Civil asset forfeiture — police confiscating the stuff of someone accused of a crime, on the theory that it might have been used in the crime or bought with money from it — is one of those widespread practices that get more controversial the more people pay attention to it.
Law enforcement uses guns and law to steal private property without charges or Due Process. It's a practice courts are ending.
A couple of states have passed laws dramatically restricting police's ability to confiscate property before the owner is actually convicted of a crime. In Congress, a bill has been introduced that would make sure people whose property is confiscated by federal law enforcement agents get a hearing to contest the seizure.
So it's not surprising that law enforcement agencies are on the defensive about it. After all, a significant revenue stream of theirs is under attack.
Stealing other people's stuff is a crime when someone else does it, but it's "community safety" when police do it.
"If you do it, it's illegal; if law enforcement does it, it's public safety."
Read more tweets at this link:
https://twitter.com/PennsylvaniaDAs/status/734718109651750915?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
In 1938 the Soviet Gulags had about 2 million people in them.
ReplyDeleteIn 2008 the US Prison Industrial Complex had about 2 million people in them.
in 2014 the US exceeded the Soviet Gulags for total number of people under state control
Around this same time Amnesty International reported that not a single US state meets basic human rights standards for policing or criminal justice. They rate the US below China, Brazil, and Iran.
It is estimated that in the US males under the age of 25 will see incarceration rates at 2 in 5. This means that young American males, regardless of race, are more likely to spend time in jail than college.
In 2016 Asset Forfeiture exceeded theft. Police now steal more property from US citizens than criminals.
Harvard did a study and found that there are so many laws on the books that the average American unknowingly commits an average of three felonies a day. The current criminal justice system makes it impossible to be a law abiding citizen.
We have sold our freedoms for a Prison Industrial Complex. This is not a black or white issue. It is a HUMAN issue.