SCRANTON TIMES-REVIEW EDITORIAL: …The Constitution’s Fifth Amendment holds that no one may be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Yet asset forfeiture laws have allowed police to seize assets of people who are not even charged with crimes, much less convicted. Mere suspicion is not due process.
Nationwide, property seizures have gone from a means to deter drug trafficking to a routine means to fund police operations. Nationwide, property forfeitures in 2001 totaled about $400 million; in 2013, they totaled $4 billion.
Some state legislatures have taken notice of abuses and revised forfeiture laws to tie the practice to the due process required by the Constitution. But federal law provides a loophole for local jurisdictions to stay on the forfeiture gravy train. A state or local police agency proscribed from seizing assets need only involve the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration or another federal agency. Once an investigation is federalized, the federal agency can make the seizure and share the proceeds with the state and local agencies… (more)
EDITOR: Why was the Constitution ignored by the courts? Because the so called War on Drugs was deemed to be an ‘exception’ to the Constitution. Go figure.
