Pubdate: Sun, 29 Nov 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Diana Simpson
Note: Diana Simpson, a Littleton native, is an attorney at the 
Washington-based Institute for Justice.

ABOLISH CIVIL FORFEITURE

Can law enforcement take and keep your cash, car, home, or other 
property regardless of your guilt or innocence? The surprising answer 
is "yes" under the practice known as civil forfeiture. Every year, 
police and prosecutors around the country take more property from 
people without so much as charging them with a crime. According to 
the Institute for Justice's new national report card, Colorado is no 
exception, earning a C for its forfeiture laws.

Though Colorado reformed its laws in 2002, it still has a long way to 
go to protect property rights. Currently, law enforcement need not 
obtain a conviction in criminal court as a prerequisite to forfeiting 
property in civil court. Rather, it can legally forfeit someone's 
property if it provides "clear and convincing evidence" - well short 
of the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard for criminal convictions.

Even worse, Colorado law enforcement agencies have a direct financial 
incentive in the property they seize: Fifty percent of civil 
forfeiture proceeds go straight to law enforcement. (The other half 
is supposed to fund drug-treatment programs.) The more cash and 
property law enforcement forfeit, the more money it receives. It is, 
quite literally, policing for profit.

Obtaining a true picture of Colorado's forfeiture practices can be 
arduous. Though agencies are required to file reports detailing their 
forfeitures, many are inexplicably absent from the state's database.

But the state's forfeiture laws are not the only problem. 
Participating in federal "equitable sharing" allows state and local 
law enforcement to team up with the federal government to forfeit 
property under federal law. That gives state and local law 
enforcement up to 80 percent of the proceeds, dramatically higher 
than the 50 percent Colorado law awards.

It should come as no surprise that Colorado law enforcement routinely 
turns to equitable sharing. In fact, only 16 states use equitable 
sharing more aggressively than Colorado. From 2000 to 2013, Colorado 
law enforcement's use of the U.S. Department of Justice's equitable 
sharing program netted nearly $48 million - an annual average of $3.4 
million. By comparison, Colorado agencies generated $12.7 million 
during that same period under the state's forfeiture laws, suggesting 
circumvention is rampant.

Equitable sharing abuse is a growing, national problem: Proceeds from 
the Department of Justice (DOJ) program more than tripled between 
2000 and 2013. One investigation by The Washington Post found nearly 
62,000 cash seizures since 9/11 from people who were never charged 
with a crime. Almost 1,000 of these seizures came from Colorado alone.

In response to growing outrage about equitable sharing, the DOJ 
announced a new policy in January intended to curb its use. But the 
policy largely left intact seizures by joint task forces and 
investigations involving federal law enforcement, which generated a 
whopping 82 percent of Colorado's equitable sharing proceeds, 
according to the Institute for Justice analysis. In other words, the 
Justice Department's decision is unlikely to significantly hinder 
equitable sharing in Colorado.

Congress was expected to advance federal reform this year that would 
abolish equitable sharing, but has so far failed to do so.

As long as state and federal laws fail to protect property owners and 
give law enforcement a financial incentive to take property, civil 
forfeiture will continue to grow.

Forfeiture should never happen absent a criminal conviction, and law 
enforcement should not be incentivized to forfeit property.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom