"Civil Asset Forfeiture, Equitable Sharing, and Policing for Profit in the United States." Journal of Criminal Justice, 39, 2011, 273-85.
Attorney General: Civil Asset Forfeiture Bill Could Endanger Profits." Washington Times, 2013.
Civil asset forfeiture is a tool supported by law enforcement leaders, who say it is necessary for fighting crime, but panned by both liberals and conservatives who see it as a violation of Americans' civil liberties and sometimes refer to it as "policing for profit." It's a longstanding, nationwide practice that has regained steam under the Trump administration but faces constitutional challenges in court.
That includes property seized under both criminal forfeiture -- which requires someone to first be found guilty of a crime -- and civil forfeiture, which allows the state to sue the property itself and doesn't require a criminal charge.
"Michigan, up until two years ago, had the worst-rated system in terms of protecting civil liberties, the lowest standard of evidence, and the highest number of forfeitures. We had no transparent requirements, and we had no idea it was happening or how much money was involved," Skorup said.
The pros and cons of civil forfeiture were debated by Clark Neily, vice president for criminal justice at the Cato Institute, and Acting U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Daniel Lemisch during a Constitution Day event Sept.
"There's bipartisan consensus in states all over the country that
forfeiture has gone too far and needs to be constrained," said Illinois American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Ben Ruddell to the (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/justice-department-civil-asset-forfeiture.html?_r=0) New York Times Wednesday.
* For those plans that use
forfeitures to reduce plan expenses or employer contributions, there should be plan language and administrative procedures to ensure that
forfeitures will be used up promptly in the year in which they occurred or, in appropriate situations, no later than the immediately succeeding plan year.
the states, various early statutes authorized
forfeitures to be enforced
(1) Our model differs from this literature in that it focuses on the deterrent effects of
forfeiture of assets used in the commission of a crime when those assets are owned by someone other than the offender.
