老澳门开奖结果

On Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions the Justice Department plans to 鈥渄evelop policies to increase forfeitures.鈥� And today he did just that by reversing a 2015 policy then-Attorney General Eric Holder that prohibited local law enforcement from circumventing more restrictive state civil forfeiture laws by partnering with the feds. When signaling this policy reversal, Sessions 鈥渘o criminal should be allowed to keep the proceeds of their crime.鈥� The only problem is that we are not talking about criminals.

We are talking about Americans who have had their homes, cars, money, and other property taken through civil forfeiture, a practice that requires only mere suspicion that property is connected to a crime. That鈥檚 right 鈥� people can have their property taken by the government without a criminal charge being filed, much less a conviction secured. More often than not, the police who seize the property get to keep it or sell it off and keep the proceeds, which only incentivizes the corrupt practice.

And by now, most of America knows just how loose the standards are for law enforcement seizures by the case names, like , where the 老澳门开奖结果 would ultimately intervene. The country also knows that the 鈥渃riminals鈥� targeted by law enforcement are innocent property owners, like 老澳门开奖结果 client Rhonda Cox. In 2013, she had her $6,000 used pickup truck seized and permanently forfeited because her 20-year-old son made repairs to it with stolen parts unbeknownst to her.

Civil asset forfeiture is unjust and un-American.

Now don鈥檛 get me wrong, we have known this day was coming. There is a list of failed War on Drugs policies that Attorney General Sessions is one day at a time. And there is the 2015 U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee where Sessions that civil forfeiture only impacts those who have 鈥渄one nothing in their lives but sell dope.鈥� That鈥檚 patently .

However, just because we anticipated this federal resuscitating of civil forfeiture does not mean that we should not be outraged. Civil forfeiture is unjust and un-American, according to of the public. It鈥檚 also counter to bipartisan reform efforts in Congress, with Jeff Sessions has he鈥檚 鈥渧ery unhappy鈥� with.

Attorney General Session鈥檚 action today is a big to the legislators in the more than 20 states that have their civil forfeiture laws in recent years. Three states have eliminated civil forfeiture altogether, according to the Institute for Justice, while some now require a criminal conviction or subject civil forfeitures to a higher burden of proof. Essentially, Sessions has just provided law enforcement who do not like their state forfeiture laws with a loophole to police for profit. And when there are on the line, there is no incentive for law enforcement to abandon this practice on their own.

We can don鈥檛 let cops use federal law to ignore stronger state asset forfeiture protections. But given today鈥檚 announcement by Attorney General Sessions, that call to action may fall on deaf ears. Now we must also pass civil asset forfeiture reforms and end policing for profit once and for all.