Here’s an outrageous fact about crime and punishment in Pennsylvania: Your property, whether in the form of cash, cars or housing, can be seized by law enforcement even if you’re not convicted of a crime.
The state’s civil asset forfeiture law makes it possible for police to confiscate private property merely on the suspicion that it is being used in the commission of a crime.
Just because ordinary citizens enjoy the presumption of innocence until proven guilty doesn’t mean their possessions have constitutional protection, according to prosecutors and law enforcement officials opposed to repairing this statute.
The reform, put forward by state Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon, would require prosecutors to obtain a criminal conviction before seizing a person’s assets. Senate Bill 869 also would redirect the proceeds from the sale of any assets away from police use and into the state or county general fund.
Prosecutors who oppose the bill claim that asset forfeiture is a powerful tool for thwarting assorted would-be criminals. At a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a member of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association issued a statement calling Mr. Folmer’s reform “The Pennsylvania Drug Dealer Bill of Rights.”
Tell that to the 1,500 Philadelphians a year who make up one-third of the cash forfeiture cases there even though they were not found guilty of a crime, according to a report by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, which supports the bill. In the last 10 years, law enforcement across Pennsylvania seized more than $100 million in property through civil asset forfeiture.
Fortunately, the bill has bipartisan support. Fixing the state’s asset forfeiture law not only would be a triumph for common sense, but the right thing to do. The Legislature should agree.
First Published: October 23, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
