Pubdate: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 Source: Washington Post (DC) Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n764/a06.html Author: Paul B. Weiss Page: A14 THERE IS NO REDEEMING THESE LAWS Civil forfeiture laws are not "good intentions" gone "astray," as John Yoder and Brad Cates argued ["Kill the program we helped start," Washington Forum, Sept. 19]. They are an unvarnished violation of due process - the taking by government of property in a person's possession (and presumed in law to be that person's lawful property until proved otherwise) without proving that person to be guilty of a crime or the property to be the fruits of a crime. Calling it a "civil" forfeiture does not make it any less a seizure of a person's property by government than calling a pig an eagle enables it to fly. Paul B. Weiss, Hedgesville, W.Va. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom