Wotka World Wide

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Radley Balko at Slate has a great piece on civil asset forfeiture and the serious abuses that occur on the state level. Many local law enforcement agencies have serious conflicts of interest in this area, and the burden of proof is the opposite of a criminal trial, with the accused having to prove that their seized property was not being used illegally. Some agencies even hire private lawyers to pursue the property, with one third of the value used as a fee. Meanwhile, the accused has to pay thousands just to recover their property.

Another bad outgrowth of our failed Drug War policy. This is so blatantly unconstitutional that it only seems a matter of time until it is addressed at the federal level. But until then the injustices will continue.

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