Civil forfeiture is the government power to take property suspected
of involvement in a crime. And unlike cases of criminal forfeiture — the
seizure of ill-gotten gains after a criminal conviction — police can
seize property without so much as charging the owner with any crime.
This led to some widely publicized cases, a few years back, in which black motorists were routinely pulled over by local police and relieved of large sums of cash while driving on major highways in the South. The motorists weren’t charged, since a criminal conviction requires actual evidence. Instead they were told “We’re seizing this cash because we presume it was intended to buy drugs; if you want to come back here from wherever you live and fight it out in court, good luck.”
Read more: http://www.vinsuprynowicz.com/?p=1638
This led to some widely publicized cases, a few years back, in which black motorists were routinely pulled over by local police and relieved of large sums of cash while driving on major highways in the South. The motorists weren’t charged, since a criminal conviction requires actual evidence. Instead they were told “We’re seizing this cash because we presume it was intended to buy drugs; if you want to come back here from wherever you live and fight it out in court, good luck.”
Read more: http://www.vinsuprynowicz.com/?p=1638
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