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TechDirt reports
After years of civil asset forfeiture abuse, legislators are finally fighting back. Reform bills have been offered up all over the country. Unfortunately, very few of them have made it to state governors' desks intact.
The Free Thought Project continues
California Governor Jerry Brown recently [September 29] signed into law a piece of legislation requiring police to secure an actual conviction before stealing people's stuff in drug-related offenses.
Civil asset forfeiture has been rightly likened to state-sanctioned armed robbery as it allows police to commandeer cash, vehicles, homes, or any property of value--even if the person is never charged with a crime--and then use or sell the items for profit for their departments.
Police in Oklahoma, for example, recently honed their thievery by rolling out nefarious Electronic Recovery and Access to Data machines, known as ERAD, which can scan your bank account and prepaid cards, and--if an officer believes any balances are tied to a crime--can wipe those accounts dry.
California's new law, formerly Senate Bill 443, quashes this nightmarish policing-for-profit in the exact way advocates of civil asset forfeiture (CAF) reform have been demanding for years.
[Continues...]
TechDirt also notes
Not only does the law contain a conviction requirement--something that should greatly reduce the amount of abuse--but it closes a loophole [that] law enforcement agencies love using to route around state-level restrictions.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2017, police departments in California will be largely prohibited from transferring seized property to federal agencies in order to sidestep state conviction requirements. The legislation forbids the transfer of property, like vehicles and homes, and specifically raises the threshold on cash seizures, requiring the government to obtain a conviction before permanently confiscating any amount under $40,000. (The previous cap was $25,000.) For larger cash seizures, authorities must provide "clear and convincing" evidence of a connection to criminal activity before taking the money for good.
Previous: Civil Asset Forfeiture Goes Digital [ERAD]
Albuquerque Won't Follow NM's New Asset Forfeiture Law; Gets Sued
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 07 2016, @08:18PM
But, but, Gideon! [wikipedia.org]
Oh, wait that's just for criminal cases.
Are you trying to say that, as a defendant, you can have all the justice you can afford? You must hate America!
It's your (and people like you) fault that the terrorists are flooding our shores.
We need law and order! We need to close our borders
Because you know, I heard that 75% of the foreigners entering the US are ISIS trained killers.
What's more, I bet you support Hillary Klingon (yeah, she's a piece of shit stuck to the hair on my ass).
We need to take back our country from the career politicians in Washington! They were paid to give your job to guys named Chang and Patel [youtube.com]!
And don't get me started on the fucking wetbacks! Rapists, murderers, drug dealers and skanky hookers, every single one of them.
Those corrupt, incompetent career politicians are screwing this country. That's why we need the good, decent people like county sheriffs, state police and well-armed citizens to make sure that no muslim terrorist, drug dealer, job-stealing wetback or disease ridden mexican whores make it through our country without being stopped and relieved of their ill-gotten money and property!
And you can't always be sure who they are, so if they have darkish skin or an out of state license plate, they're probably up to no good.
Trump/Pence 2016
#MAGA
(Score: 1) by charon on Saturday October 08 2016, @02:03AM
Poe's law strikes again.