Pubdate: Tue, 25 Jul 2017
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2017 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/625HdBMl
Website: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Glenn Harlan Reynolds

FORGET RUSSIA, FIRE SESSIONS OVER FORFEITURE

Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to steal from you.

Oh, he doesn't call it that. He calls it "civil forfeiture." But what
it is, is theft by law enforcement. Sessions should be ashamed. If I
were president, he'd be fired.

Under "civil forfeiture," law enforcement can take property from
people under the legal fiction that the property itself is guilty of a
crime. ("Legal fiction" sounds better than "lie," but in this case the
two terms are near synonyms.) It was originally sold as a tool for
going after the assets of drug kingpins, but nowadays it seems to be
used against a lot of ordinary Americans who just have things that law
enforcement wants. It's also a way for law enforcement agencies to
maintain off-budget slush funds, thus escaping scrutiny.
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MAP posted-by: Matt