U.S. House Takes A Step Away From Drug War With Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill DrugSense FOCUS Alert # 112 Asset Forfeiture Bill Passes! Huge Victory for Individual Liberty and Freedom Since they were adopted in the 1980s, asset forfeiture laws have threatened every citizen. The laws gave police the power to take property from people who were merely accused of drug crimes; no convictions were necessary. As law enforcement officials raked in easy money, horror stories about innocent people losing cash, cars and homes have multiplied. Some of the stories and other information about asset forfeiture abuses have been documented at http://www.fear.org while an excellent series of reports on how state law enforcement has taken advantage from the Kansas City Star is available at http://www.kcstar.com/projects/drugforfeit/index.html Even the U.S. House of Representatives felt uncomfortable about these policies. Last week, by a huge margin, the house voted in favor bill that offers sweeping and meaningful reforms to asset forfeiture practices. As the nation waits for a response from the U.S. Senate, please write a letter to your local newspapers, and other publications around the country, thanking House members for this important action. You may also want to write directly to your federal legislators to express the need for reform. Thanks for your effort and support. WRITE A LETTER TODAY It's not what others do it's what YOU do * PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the MAPTalk list if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our impact and effectiveness. CONTACT INFO Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Contact: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EXTRA CREDIT part 1 - Write your local newspapers, or other newspapers around the country encouraging the reform of asset forfeiture laws. Need an Email address for your local paper? Email addresses for nearly every paper of any size can be found at: http://www.mapinc.org/resource/email.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EXTRA CREDIT part 2 - Write your federal legislators to remind them of the importance of this issue. To find contact information for your senator of congressman, use the links below. NOTE: The Senate in particular needs to be encouraged to pass this legislation. For the Senate: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm For the House: http://www.house.gov/writerep/ * Pubdate: June 25, 1999 Source: Chicago Tribune (IL) Contact: Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Forum: http://www.chicagotribune.com/interact/boards/ Copyright: 1999 Chicago Tribune Comany Author: Mike Dorning, HOUSE OVERWHELMINGLY BACKS MEASURE TO LIMIT SEIZURE LAWS WASHINGTON -- Responding to reported abuses of federal laws permitting authorities to seize property suspected of use in crimes, the House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to make it easier for citizens not convicted of crimes to recover property taken from them. The seizure of private property has become an increasingly popular weapon in fighting crime--and in generating revenue to fund law enforcement--since Congress expanded police power to seize assets during the 1980s as part of the war on drugs. The annual flow of cash, vehicles, houses, airplanes and other assets to the Justice Department has surged from $27 million in 1985 to $449 million last year. Critics assert that weak protection for property owners has allowed that weapon to be misused. A property owner need not be charged with a crime before his property is taken and, once police seize the property, the owner bears the burden of proving it was not used in law-breaking activities. "They don't have to convict you. They don't even have to charge you with a crime, but they've got your property," said House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.). He called the current law "a throwback to the days of the Soviet Union, where justice was the justice of the government and the citizen didn't have a chance." The legislation, which does not affect confiscation from people convicted of crimes, was propelled to a 375-48 approval in the House by an unusual alliance of conservative constitutionalists and liberal civil libertarians. The lead sponsors include some of the fiercest antagonists from the presidential impeachment battle, including Hyde, conservative Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), archliberal Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), President Clinton's top defender on the Judiciary Committee. The measure still must pass the Senate and faces opposition from police organizations, as well as the Justice Department. The bill approved Thursday would shift the burden of proof in seizure cases to require the government to present "clear and convincing" evidence that property was used for an illegal purpose. Currently, authorities can seize assets if they have "probable cause" to believe the assets were used in breaking the law. That is the same standard of evidence police use to stop and frisk people and the lowest threshold in criminal law. Hyde said the low standard of evidence is especially troubling because local police agencies are allowed to keep up to 80 percent of the value of confiscated property for their own use. "It's like the speed trap along the rural highway . . . You don't have a great chance at equal justice," Hyde said. Under the measure, indigent people would be entitled to free legal representation in proceedings to reclaim their property. A current requirement that property owners first post a bond worth 10 percent of the property taken from them before they can file a challenge would be dropped. And citizens would be able to regain use of their property during the court proceedings, if they showed that they otherwise faced a hardship. Hyde said the lopsided House vote should help as the measure moves to the Senate because "it shows there is strength. It is not a bizarre, off-the-wall idea." Law-enforcement officials consider vigorous asset seizures a crucial way to discourage the drug trade because it attacks narcotics dealers' motive for entering the business: money. "Yes, there have been high-profile cases where mistakes were made," said Gene Voegtlin, legislative counsel for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. "But these are things that would lead to frivolous lawsuits and burden the court system." Myron Marlin, spokesman for the Justice Department, conceded the law should be changed so property owners no longer must bear the burden of proving their innocence. But the department advocates allowing the government to prevail in asset-seizure cases by meeting a lower standard of proof: the preponderance of evidence, which means it only must make a better case--however slight--than the property owner. That is the standard used in civil lawsuits. The House defeated a proposed amendment that included that lower standard. A Justice Department official involved in enforcement said the tougher "clear and convincing" standard in the bill would make it especially hard to seize assets in cases involving suspected money-laundering. "The whole point of money-laundering is to make it difficult to establish a connection with the crime," the official said. News media reports and congressional hearings uncovered a series of apparent abuses of existing seizure law. In one case detailed in congressional testimony, a nursery owner had $9,000 cash confiscated from him in a Nashville airport after he paid cash for an airline ticket to Houston, thus triggering suspicions he was a drug courier. Drug-sniffing dogs suggested there were traces of narcotics on the money. The nursery owner, Willie Jones, never was charged with a crime; it took two years of legal wrangling for him to regain the cash. The Justice Department's Marlin said that more than 80 percent of federal asset seizures are related to an arrest, although not necessarily of the property owner. In about two-fifths of the cases, the property is suspected of being used in the drug trade. But the federal government also makes wide use of the laws in seizing property related to the smuggling of illegal immigrants, money-laundering and other white-collar crimes, Marlin said. Hyde said in the floor debate that he was inspired to propose the legislation after reading a 1993 column by the Tribune's Steve Chapman describing abuses of the seizure law. "I must tell you I couldn't believe it. I thought over 200 years ago we had worked out what due process meant, what equality under the law meant," Hyde said. SAMPLE LETTER (sent) Henry Hyde and all the co-sponsors and supporters of the asset forfeiture reform bill passed in the U.S. House deserve our thanks. As they are currently applied, asset forfeiture procedures amount to a license to steal for law enforcement officials. The protections offered by the Hyde bill are a crucial step towards safeguarding every citizen from the horrible abuses documented by Hyde and journalists around the nation. Just as important, the bill shows that it is possible to move away from "get-tough-at-all-costs" anti-drug policies that have done much more harm than good. I look forward to the U.S. Senate backing asset forfeiture reform, and perhaps even a thoughtful reevaluation by federal legislators of the entire war on drugs. Stephen Young IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts 3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm Prepared by Steve Young () DrugSense FOCUS Alert Specialist Please help us help reform. Send any news articles you find on any drug related issue to See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for details = NOW YOU CAN DONATE TO DRUGSENSE ONLINE AND IT'S TAX DEDUCTIBLE DrugSense provides many services to at no charge BUT THEY ARE NOT FREE TO PRODUCE. We incur many costs in creating our many and varied services. If you are able to help by contributing to the DrugSense effort visit our convenient donation web site at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm * Just DO It!!

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