CA Will Try To Curtail “Asset Forfeiture,” A Boon To Local Police

Californnia has passed what some civil rights advocates are calling “one of the most comprehensive reforms in the nation” to address the lucrative practice of asset forfeiture, a process that allows law enforcement agencies to seize assets without having obtained a conviction for a crime. The new California law will require a conviction before assets valued at less than $40,000 can be seized. Although critics of the practice consider this a step in the right direction, the law still allows authorities to seize assets worth more than $40,000 without gaining a conviction. Nationwide, asset forfeiture has become a big revenue producer for law enforcement agencies. In 2015 they seized nearly $2.6 billion in assets – everything from cash to jewelry and airplanes – the largest total from this controversial practice since 2011. Much of the proceeds goes to local police departments to augment budgets, buy equipment, etc. Critics point out the perverse incentive at play, and the legal fiction under which this process evolved: The defendant is not the person, but the goods themselves, which has been interpreted to mean that normal legal protections do not apply. The likely next attorney general, Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, is said to support civil asset forfeiture, but there are bills pending in Congress, some with bi-partisan support, that would curtail the practice.