[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

"Why the DemocRATZ Activist Class Couldn’t Celebrate the Cease-Fire They Demanded"

Antifa Calls for CIVIL WAR!

British Police Make an Arrest...of a White Child Fishing in the Thames

"Sanctuary" Horde ASSAULTS Chicago... ELITE Marines SMASH Illegals Without Mercy

Trump hosts roundtable on ANTIFA

What's happening in Britain. Is happening in Ireland. The whole of Western Europe.

"The One About the Illegal Immigrant School Superintendent"

CouldnÂ’t believe he let me pet him at the end (Rhino)

Cops Go HANDS ON For Speaking At Meeting!

POWERFUL: Charlie Kirk's final speech delivered in South Korea 9/6/25

2026 in Bible Prophecy

2.4 Billion exposed to excessive heat

🔴 LIVE CHICAGO PORTLAND ICE IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTER 24/7 PROTEST 9/28/2025

Young Conservative Proves Leftist Protesters Wrong

England is on the Brink of Civil War!

Charlie Kirk Shocks Florida State University With The TRUTH

IRL Confronting Protesters Outside UN Trump Meeting

The UK Revolution Has Started... Brit's Want Their Country Back

Inside Paris Dangerous ANTIFA Riots

Rioters STORM Chicago ICE HQ... "Deportation Unit" SCRAPES Invaders Off The Sidewalk

She Decoded A Specific Part In The Bible

Muslim College Student DUMBFOUNDED as Charlie Kirk Lists The Facts About Hamas

Charlie Kirk EVISCERATES Black Students After They OPENLY Support “Anti-White Racism” HEATED DEBATE

"Trump Rips U.N. as Useless During General Assembly Address: ‘Empty Words’"

Charlie Kirk VS the Wokies at University of Tennessee

Charlie Kirk Takes on 3 Professors & a Teacher

British leftist student tells Charlie Kirk facts are unfair

The 2 Billion View Video: Charlie Kirk's Most Viewed Clips of 2024

Antifa is now officially a terrorist organization.

The Greatness of Charlie Kirk: An Eyewitness Account of His Life and Martyrdom

Charlie Kirk Takes on Army of Libs at California's UCR

DR. ALVEDA KING: REST IN PEACE CHARLIE KIRK

Steven Bonnell wants to murder Americans he disagrees with

What the fagots LGBTQ really means

I watched Charlie Kirk get assassinated. This is my experience.

Elon Musk Delivers Stunning Remarks At Historic UK March (Tommy Robinson)

"Transcript: Mrs. Erika Kirk Delivers Public Address: ‘His Movement Will Go On’"

"Victor Davis Hanson to Newsmax: Kirk Slaying Crosses Rubicon"

Rest In Peace Charlie Kirk

Charlotte train murder: Graphic video captures random fatal stabbing of young Ukrainian refugee

Berlin in July 1945 - Probably the best restored film material you'll watch from that time!

Ok this is Funny

Walking Through 1980s Los Angeles: The City That Reinvented Cool

THE ZOMBIES OF AMERICA

THE OLDEST PHOTOS OF NEW YORK YOU'VE NEVER SEEN

John Rich – Calling Out P. Diddy, TVA Scandal, and Joel Osteen | SRS #232

Capablanca Teaches Us The ONLY Chess Opening You'll Ever Need

"How Bruce Springsteen Fooled America"

How ancient Rome was excavated in Italy in the 1920s. Unique rare videos and photos.

Reagan JOKE On The Homeless


Status: Not Logged In; Sign In

Watching The Cops
See other Watching The Cops Articles

Title: Connecticut Just Banned Civil Forfeiture Without A Criminal Conviction
Source: Forbes
URL Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/instit ... without-a-criminal-conviction/
Published: Jul 15, 2017
Author: Nick Sibilla
Post Date: 2017-07-15 06:50:53 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 6000
Comments: 17

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy signed HB 7146 on Monday, which curbs the state’s civil forfeiture laws. Not only did the bill earn endorsements from the Yankee Institute for the Public Policy and the state chapter of the ACLU, HB 7146 even passed both the House and the Senate without a single no vote.

Under the new law, in order to permanently confiscate property with civil forfeiture, the property must be first seized in connection to either a lawful arrest or a lawful search that results in an arrest. If prosecutors do not secure a guilty verdict, a plea bargain or a dismissal from finishing a pretrial diversion program, the government must return the property to its rightful owner. With the stroke of a pen, Connecticut now becomes the 14th state to require a criminal conviction for most or all forfeiture cases.

“Civil forfeiture is one of the most serious assaults on Americans’ private property rights,” Institute for Justice Senior Legislative Counsel Lee McGrath said. “The bill is a solid first step to ensure that innocent people do not lose their property to this use of 17th Century admiralty law applied to the 21st Century war on drugs.”

According to data obtained by the Institute for Justice and the Reason Foundation, police and prosecutors generated more than $17.8 million in forfeiture revenue from 2009 to 2016. Nearly two-thirds of those proceeds came from civil forfeiture cases, where the owner did not have to be convicted. Law enforcement predominantly confiscated cash, but also seized dirt bikes, gold chains, and electronics like iPads, TVs and cell phones.

Although civil forfeiture is often defended as a way to stop large-scale drug cartels and criminal enterprises, in Connecticut, half of all civil forfeitures were under $570 in 2016. These small amounts suggest that many victims don’t have the means to fight back against a seizure in court. The state’s conviction requirement should protect many innocent Connecticutians.

But even with the new safeguard, there are several glaring defects in Connecticut’s forfeiture laws. For starters, the state still allows police and prosecutors to collect 69.5 percent of the proceeds from forfeited property. That provides a strong incentive to seek cases with a hefty payout.

Moreover, Connecticut agencies can spend forfeiture money without any public oversight or accounting, leaving both the public and lawmakers (who are supposed to control the power of the purse) completely in the dark. And unlike recent reforms in seven states, the bill does not address the federal equitable sharing program, which has long acted as a loophole to bypass state reforms.

To curb the temptation to police for profit, lawmakers should look to Maine, which sends forfeiture proceeds away from police coffers and towards the general fund. And to hold law enforcement accountable, Connecticut should copy recent reforms enacted in Arizona and Colorado, which force agencies to detail their forfeiture expenditures, including for salaries, overtime, travel, victim compensation, and drug treatment. Both states also mandate regular audits of forfeiture accounts and penalize noncompliant agencies.

Nevertheless, Connecticut’s new reform is an important step to curtail an constitutionally problematic practice. With the governor’s signature, Connecticut joins a growing, nationwide movement that has emerged in recent years to protect property rights from abusive seizures. Since 2014, the Constitution State is the 10th state to enact a conviction safeguard and the 24th state that tightened its forfeiture laws.

“No one should lose their property unless they are first convicted of a crime,” McGrath added. “Along with our bipartisan coalition partners at the ACLU of Connecticut and the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, we will keep fighting until civil forfeiture in Connecticut is abolished, once and for all.”


Poster Comment:

"With the stroke of a pen, Connecticut now becomes the 14th state to require a criminal conviction for most or all forfeiture cases." (1 image)

Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread  


TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 6.

#3. To: Tooconservative (#0)

So I rob a liquor store of $10,000. No cameras, no witness ID, no evidence. A few miles away I get pulled over for speeding and the cop sees the $10,000 in the back seat and I can't explain why I have it.

Unless they charge AND convict me of the robbery it's all mine, free and clear.

misterwhite  posted on  2017-07-15   10:33:36 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: misterwhite (#3)

Although civil forfeiture is often defended as a way to stop large-scale drug cartels and criminal enterprises, in Connecticut, half of all civil forfeitures were under $570 in 2016. These small amounts suggest that many victims don’t have the means to fight back against a seizure in court.

So if you have $500 and can't prove on the spot where you got it, it's fine with you if Connecticut just seizes it?

You really like the whole guilty-until-proven-innocent concept. You're un-American.

Tooconservative  posted on  2017-07-15   12:41:17 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: Tooconservative (#4)

According to the article, half of all civil forfeitures were under $570. So it could be 5 bucks.

Get pulled over, the cops asks you how much you got, you say $12.95, and the cop takes it under civil asset forfeiture. According to you.

misterwhite  posted on  2017-07-15   13:16:09 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: misterwhite (#5)

Get pulled over, the cops asks you how much you got, you say $12.95, and the cop takes it under civil asset forfeiture. According to you.

To you, it's fine if they seize it whether it's $5, $500, $5000, $50000, etc.

Is there any form of police abuse you actually object to? Even trying to discuss this stuff with you is like talking to a mentally ill person.

Tooconservative  posted on  2017-07-15   14:41:34 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 6.

#7. To: Tooconservative (#6)

To you, it's fine if they seize it whether it's $5, $500, $5000, $50000, etc.

Well, I would set a practical lower limit. But if circumstances indicate that the money was acquired illegally, yeah, it's fine with me if they seize it. After all, that seizure is only temporary until the owner can show it's legally his.

You know as well as I do that civil asset forfeiture has zero effect on legal owners. You're just pissed that these laws have the effect of getting some justice when there's not enough evidence to convict these scumbags of a crime.

Next you'll be complaining that law enforcement is arresting more people for crimes in order to enact criminal asset forfeiture. Can you say, "unintended consequences"?

misterwhite  posted on  2017-07-15 15:37:40 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 6.

TopPage UpFull ThreadPage DownBottom/Latest

[Home]  [Headlines]  [Latest Articles]  [Latest Comments]  [Post]  [Mail]  [Sign-in]  [Setup]  [Help]  [Register] 

Please report web page problems, questions and comments to webmaster@libertysflame.com