New Mexico Ends Civil Asset Forfeiture
This article was written in collaboration with AlterNet and originally appeared here.
[image:1 align:right]In a historic move, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) today signed into law a bill that will end civil asset forfeiture by law enforcement in the state, a practice widely known as "policing for profit." The measure is House Bill 560.
Under civil asset forfeiture, police and prosecutors can seize someone's property without ever charging them with a crime, let alone convicting them. Police can then funnel many of those assets, including cash seizures, back to their own departments, creating a vicious cycle of more profit-driven law enforcement providing more resources to law enforcement for more profit-driven law enforcement.
"This is a good day for the Bill of Rights," said ACLU-NM Executive Director Peter Simonson. "For years police could seize people's cash, cars, and houses without even accusing anyone of a crime. Today, we have ended this unfair practice in New Mexico and replaced it with a model that is just and constitutional."
The practice of asset forfeiture has been coming under increasing scrutiny and criticism in recent years as cases of abuse become more widely known. The Obama administration Justice Department has in the past few months taken steps to address asset forfeiture abuse at the federal level, and asset forfeiture reform bills have been introduced in a number of states this year. The governor of Wyoming vetoed one last month.
New Mexico is the first state where such a bill has passed, and it now has the strongest asset forfeiture protections in the county. The bill passed the legislature unanimously.
Under the new law, civil asset forfeiture will be replaced with criminal forfeiture, forcing authorities to actually convict someone of a crime before taking his property.
"With this law, New Mexico leads the nation in protecting the property rights of innocent Americans," said Paul Gessing, President of the Rio Grande Foundation. "Convicted criminals will still see the fruits of their crime confiscated by the state, but innocent New Mexicans can now rest easy knowing that their property will never be seized by police without proper due process."
"New Mexico has succeeded today in reigning in one of the worst excesses of the drug war," said Emily Kaltenbach, State Director for Drug Policy Alliance's New Mexico office. "Like other drug war programs, civil asset forfeiture is disproportionately used against poor people of color who cannot afford to hire lawyers to get their property back. This law is an important step towards repairing some of the damage the drug war has inflicted upon our society and system of justice."
Comments
theft and double jeopardy
Asset forfeiture was intended to strip the ill gotten gains of drug trafficking or other organised crime from crime families.It has been used and abused by police all over the world but mainly here in NA.It has deteriorated to a point where some police forces are seizing vehicles from young people with the small amount of cannabis that qualifies as felony weight in their state.Homes have been seized from people who rented to a grower,without knowledge.The way the law is written,everywhere in NA,it's up to you to prove you didn't attain whatever they took by illegal means.It can be,in most cases,impossible to prove a negative.They can take everything you own and keep it until you can hire a lawyer and amass enough evidence to convince a court that you got what they took,legally.Good luck if they grab your car in bubbaville and the cop who took your shit is the brother of the judge you have to go in front of.In most cases you may be in jail,on bail with other legal issues and lawyers charge by the hour.They charge a lot.In most cases the people are too scared to protest or just too broke to pay the fees of a decent lawyer.Most lawyers,knowing the burden they are facing,will not take a case on consignment.They want cash up front and will tell you outright that your chances are slim to none.This has always been nothing more than theft and double jeopardy.It's only done in big organised crime cases and,of course,in drug cases.The American insanity that is the war on drugs has turned the law upside down and it's landed on everyone who is unlucky enough to be caught holding felony drug weight.In many states that can be remarkably little.This is one state and it's just a very moderate start to putting back the legal in the way law is enforced in NA.PS,I had never heard of seizure without charge?How did that ever become a thing?Never mind,drug war,right?
This is happening all over the country.
The practice is either supported by your elected representative. If not, then it is only through negligence of their duties that asset forfeiture "business" continues in our country.
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