Earlier this year, the state of New Mexico passed one of the most solid pieces of asset forfeiture reform legislation in the country. All it asked for was what most people would consider to be common sense: if the government is going to seize assets, the least it could do in return is tie the seizure to a conviction.
Now, the state is finding out that bad habits are hard to break. CJ Ciaramella reports that the government is going after another part of the government for its refusal to stop taking stuff without securing a conviction.
Two New Mexico state senators are suing Albuquerque after the city has refused to stop seizing residents' cars, despite a law passed earlier this year ending the practice of civil asset forfeiture.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, New Mexico state senators Lisa Torraco and Daniel Ivey-Soto said Albuquerque is defying the new law and "has continued to take property using civil forfeiture without requiring that anyone--much less the property owner--be convicted of a crime."
These would be the two senators who pushed for the much-needed reform. They managed to get the law passed, but Albuquerque (along with other cities in the state) haven't shown much interest in altering their tactics. The only incentive the new law has on its side is the threat of legal action or legislative pressure. The old incentives--hundreds of thousands of dollars--are still motivating local law enforcement.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 11 2015, @12:54PM
Don't forget "Under color of law". Up those penalties by a decade for those in law enforcement.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 11 2015, @03:00PM
That's cool, but probably not necessary. Put cops, prosecutors, and judges into prison with the people they've busted for five years. Some of them will be dead very soon. Others will become someone's bitch. Few will leave prison unchanged. And, zero will ever again exercise any authority over their fellow citizens.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday December 12 2015, @02:51AM
Specifically, U.S. Code Title 18, Sections 241-242.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/241 [cornell.edu]
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/242 [cornell.edu]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.