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Monday, August 21, 2006
Asset Forfeiture
Apparently, it's now illegal to drive with money.
Radley Balko posted about this outrageous decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Basically, the government stole $124,700 from a man because anyone carrying such a large amount of cash is presumed to be dealing drugs, and even though they had no real evidence, and he had a well corroborated explanation, the government gets to keep the loot.
Under civil asset forfeiture law, there doesn't have to be a conviction of a person. All they need is some evidence that the property (in this case, cash) may have, at some point, been involved in a drug crime. It's the property, not the person, that's found guilty.
This law, intended to be used as a tool to combat racketeering by organized crime, turns out to be a tool for the government to conduct its own racket.
This is just awful.