
Civil Forfeiture: How prosecutors seize the assets of the innocent (2013) - martincmartin
http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21588915-how-prosecutors-seize-assets-innocent-grabbing-hand-law
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rrggrr
The law was intended for use against very well financed drug smugglers and
their corrupt attorneys at a time when it was political suicide to be soft on
crime. Predictably, prosecutors now use these and other laws well beyond
original legislative intent. What is amazing to me is the silence and inaction
of the judiciary.

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tim333
It's a bit shocking really. You'd think some one in power in the US would say
this is wrong and stop it. I have to admit I don't understand US politics - I
don't think this happens in any other developed countries.

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enraged_camel
>>You'd think some one in power in the US would say this is wrong and stop it.

They would be no longer in power if they tried that. Their opponents would
paint them as "soft on crime" and "pandering to criminals" and "hating our
cops" and a bazillion other nonsense rhetoric.

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muzz
Who has painted Rand Paul that way?

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enraged_camel
No one, since no one takes Rand Paul seriously.

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jayseeg
My state (Colorado) started requiring convictions in 2002, but it looks like
the vast majority still do not.

You can check your state's grade here:
[https://www.ij.org/images/publications/asset_forfeiture/forf...](https://www.ij.org/images/publications/asset_forfeiture/forfeituremapwred.pdf)

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muzz
There were many articles about this years ago, particularly of the abuse in
Tenaha, Texas

[http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-texas-
pro...](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-texas-
profiling_wittmar10-story.html#page=1)

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ck2
It is amazing how every government entity has figured out that it is too
annoying for them to do something with proper due process so they just carve
out their own path to completely skip it - taking the "just try to stop us"
approach instead.

Everything from local police all the way up to federal entities, some of which
that should not even have legal powers that infinite.

