Protect Your Assets: How to Avoid Falling Victim to the Governments Forfeiture Laws

The following case concerning property forfeiture comes from Rhode Island and is very illustrative as to the real goal of such government action: greed. Luz Rivera of Providence, RI was arrested in 1995 and charged with drug dealing. The police also confiscated $860 from her apartment after a search. Ms. Rivera had the charges against her dismissed in 1996 after she successfully proved she was at work and not at her apartment at the time of the alleged drug deal. Being found innocent of the charges, she naturally requested that her $860 be returned and obtained the necessary court order for this to happen. The state refused to honor the court order and Ms. Rivera contacted the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties union to assist her in obtaining the return of her money. The ACLU has threatened the state with a contempt order but the state attorney general's office has filed a motion to have the 1996 order requiring the return of the confiscated cash null and void. The state meanwhile maintains Ms. Rivera's cash was lawfully forfeited. Considering Ms. Rivera has been cleared of any charges of illegal activity, what is the basis of the state's claim? Very simply, it is the basis of greed. The state government wants Ms. Rivera's cash and has decided to keep it, all moral considerations, notwithstanding. A more clear example of the real reason behind property forfeiture could not be given. It is money pure and simple. Citizens have it and the government wants it.

The New York City Police Department has learned a valuable lesson from state and national law enforcement agencies. The Department will implement its "Zero Tolerance Drinking and Driving Initiative" sometime within the next month according to Police Commissioner Howard Safir. The stated goal of this new program is to discourage drunk driving and means anyone arrested for drunk driving in NYC will have their car seized until acquittal of the charges. The policy is based on the fact that city code permits police to seize "instrumentality's of crime." Commissioner Safir expects the program will result in thousands of cars being seized in the near future. According to criminal lawyer Gerald Lefcourt, this is a serious misuse of the forfeiture laws as they were not intended for this type of situation. Mr. Lefcourt is right in his supposition that the forfeiture laws were not originally intended to address crimes such as drunk driving. Originally they were to punish drug dealers by confiscating the goods they bought and used with the proceeds from the drug trade. However, it has not taken government agencies long to realize the full potential of forfeiture laws since any property used in committing a crime or that results from illegal activities can be seized. This provides government an easy way to take from the public whatever it wants and is a natural motivator for unscrupulous, unethical and illegal actions by the government. In this case, if the city of New York wishes to discourage drunk driving it can increase jail time for a conviction, but its much more lucrative to confiscate a nice car.

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