New Jersey Is Now The 16th State To Require Convictions For Civil Forfeiture - Nick Sibilla, Institute for Justice, Forbes:
January 28, 2020 - "New Jersey became the latest state to protect individuals from civil forfeiture, which lets police and prosecutors confiscate property without ever having to charge someone with a crime. Signed by Gov. Phil Murphy last week, under the new law (A.4970), prosecutors will need to secure a criminal conviction to forfeit property valued at or below $10,000, or less than $1,000 in cash. Any property seized under those thresholds will have to be returned if an owner is acquitted, or if prosecutors dismiss or don’t bring charges....
"The state’s new conviction requirements should apply to the overwhelming majority of property confiscated by New Jersey law enforcement. Data analysis by the Institute for Justice found that between 2014 and 2018, county prosecutors forfeited over 1,200 vehicles, more than 90% of which were worth $10,000 or below....
"Unfortunately, the bill is hampered by limitations. First, at $1,000 for cash and $10,000 for all other property, the state’s conviction thresholds are some of the lowest in the nation.... A.4970 does not apply to cases where no one has filed a claim for the seized property. Since hiring an attorney often costs more than the property itself, very few have the means to fight back in court.... Nor does A.4970 address the Garden State’s perverse financial incentives for law enforcement. Incredibly, once property has been auctioned off, local agencies can retain up to 100% of the proceeds. Thanks to this motivation to police for profit, forfeiture has generated nearly $63 million in proceeds for police and prosecutors.
"A better option would be to follow the lead of Nebraska, New Mexico and North Carolina and abolish civil forfeiture. In those states, property is confiscated with criminal forfeiture.... [C]ivil forfeiture cases are civil proceedings [in which] owners aren’t guaranteed the same protections for due process as they are in criminal cases,...
"Critically, for civil forfeiture, owners must file a claim for their property or risk permanently losing it. Yet onerous red tape, the high cost of litigation, and even concerns about potential law enforcement retaliation deter the overwhelming majority from going to civil court.....By contrast, for criminal forfeiture, ... suspects do not have to file their own claim for their property and if the government fails to act, the property won’t be forfeited."
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicksibilla/2020/01/28/new-jersey-is-now-the-16th-state-to-require-convictions-for-civil-forfeiture/#57f8294677fd
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January 28, 2020 - "New Jersey became the latest state to protect individuals from civil forfeiture, which lets police and prosecutors confiscate property without ever having to charge someone with a crime. Signed by Gov. Phil Murphy last week, under the new law (A.4970), prosecutors will need to secure a criminal conviction to forfeit property valued at or below $10,000, or less than $1,000 in cash. Any property seized under those thresholds will have to be returned if an owner is acquitted, or if prosecutors dismiss or don’t bring charges....
"The state’s new conviction requirements should apply to the overwhelming majority of property confiscated by New Jersey law enforcement. Data analysis by the Institute for Justice found that between 2014 and 2018, county prosecutors forfeited over 1,200 vehicles, more than 90% of which were worth $10,000 or below....
"Unfortunately, the bill is hampered by limitations. First, at $1,000 for cash and $10,000 for all other property, the state’s conviction thresholds are some of the lowest in the nation.... A.4970 does not apply to cases where no one has filed a claim for the seized property. Since hiring an attorney often costs more than the property itself, very few have the means to fight back in court.... Nor does A.4970 address the Garden State’s perverse financial incentives for law enforcement. Incredibly, once property has been auctioned off, local agencies can retain up to 100% of the proceeds. Thanks to this motivation to police for profit, forfeiture has generated nearly $63 million in proceeds for police and prosecutors.
"A better option would be to follow the lead of Nebraska, New Mexico and North Carolina and abolish civil forfeiture. In those states, property is confiscated with criminal forfeiture.... [C]ivil forfeiture cases are civil proceedings [in which] owners aren’t guaranteed the same protections for due process as they are in criminal cases,...
"Critically, for civil forfeiture, owners must file a claim for their property or risk permanently losing it. Yet onerous red tape, the high cost of litigation, and even concerns about potential law enforcement retaliation deter the overwhelming majority from going to civil court.....By contrast, for criminal forfeiture, ... suspects do not have to file their own claim for their property and if the government fails to act, the property won’t be forfeited."
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