from the
International Society for Individual Liberty

“Police stopped 49-year-old Ethel Hylton at Houston’s Hobby Airport and told her she was under arrest because a drug dog had scratched at her luggage. Agents searched her bags and strip-searched her, but they found no drugs. They did find $39,110 in cash, money she had received from an insurance settlement and her life savings; accumulated through over 20 years of work as a hotel housekeeper and hospital janitor. Ethel Hylton completely documented where she got the money and was never charged with a crime. But the police kept her money anyway. Nearly four years later, she is still trying to get her money back.”

from http://www.isil.org/resources/lit/looting-of-america.html

Though not limited to drug offenses civil asset confiscation has turned our basic concepts of liberty on its head. Its proponents claim it is necessary because some criminals can be so removed from the crime that it is difficult to get them any other way; kind of like getting Al Capone for tax evasion because they just could not get a conviction for murder and bootlegging. The difference here was that Al Capone was actually charged AND CONVICTED of something.

But the results are that many innocents are stripped of their property without being charged or convicted of any crime. It creates an abusive incentive for law enforcement, and such action are not limited to drug crimes.

Civil asset forfeiture has been upheld by the courts but it still is unjust and abusive. I wonder why we do not hear more about it from the media.

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