Civil asset forfeiture is a controversial legislation in the United States that has elicited polarized opinion. In the article “Jeff Session’s defense of civil asset forfeiture, annotated,” Christopher Ingraham, present the rationale behind the support for the practice. According to the article, the policy is an instrumental tool for fighting crime in the United States context. The article justifies the acceptability of civil asset forfeiture by stating that the endeavor is instrumental in defunding organized crime, allowing law enforcement agencies to take back all ill-gotten gains, and ultimately preventing new crimes from being conducted. Typically, the practice is presented as a viable solution in the struggle to reduce the incidence of crime in the United States.
In my opinion, the implementation of the legislation goes against the fundamental rights of the United States populace. For instance, the statement that everyone is innocent until proven guilty is not upheld by the legislation given the fact that the legislation support seizing of property that is presumed to have been acquired illegally (Ingraham, 2017).. The underlying word here is purported. Therefore, it can be inferred that the low has allowed law enforcement agencies to take an individual’s or an organization’s property without the need to wait for a court verdict regarding the innocence of the accused. As a result, it is likely that some people may lose property wrongly, when in deed they are innocent.
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The legal fabric of the United States is anchored on fairness and objectivity, however, through the implementation of the civil asset forfeiture, it is safer to conclude that fairness and objectivity in dealing with criminal cases has been undermined. The notion that the endeavor is pivotal in defunding criminal syndicates is both misguided and cannot be proved. As a result, I think the policy should be scrapped.
References
Ingraham, C. (2017). Jeff Session’s defense of civil asset forfeiture, annotated. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/19/jeff-sessions-defense-of-civil-asset-forfeiture-annotated/ .
Ingraham, C. (2019). New report: In tough times, police start seizing a lot more stuff from people. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/10/report-in-lean-times-police-start-taking-a-lot-more-stuff-from-people/ .
