Civil Asset Forfeiture: A Controversial Practice
Asset forfeiture is a significant source of revenue for city, county, state, and federal governments in the United States. There are various types of forfeiture, with civil forfeiture being the most controversial.
In civil forfeiture, individuals can lose their property without being charged with a crime. Instead, law enforcement officers claim that the property was involved in illegal activities and seize it. Victims of civil forfeiture often face obstacles in reclaiming their property through legal processes.
While some instances of civil forfeiture are justified due to the illegal activities of the property owners, many are not. In one study of civil forfeiture, 80% of people who lost property through this process were never accused of any crime.
This practice results in the loss of billions of dollars annually for Americans. Moreover, with budget cuts affecting government agencies, civil forfeiture has become even more popular.
Military Involvement: A Troubling Trend
Recently, there has been a concerning development involving the military’s participation in asset forfeiture.
For example, in Colorado, the state’s National Guard has been given the authority to take part in asset forfeitures conducted under federal law. This arrangement allows the National Guard to share in the proceeds from these operations. Indeed, in November 2008, the Guard received its first check, for $93,701.
This raises concerns about the militarization of law enforcement and questions about the adherence to laws such as the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the military from participating in arrests, searches, seizure of evidence, and other police-type activities on United States soil.
A possibly related development was the announcement in October 2008 that the Bush administration plans to deploy an active-duty military unit inside the United States. This is the first such deployment within US borders since the Civil War, which ended in 1865.
The idea of armed soldiers joining the police in seizing assets from innocent individuals and profiting from the proceeds challenges the principles of the rule of law and raises fears of martial law.
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