Editorial: No Property and No Rights

If, for whatever reason, you end up the suspect of a crime that is being investigated by local and federal authorities, your assets may be confiscated even if you have never been taken to court or accused of any wrongdoing.

Not just that, but 80% of these seized goods go to local police departments to be spent under little supervision, while 20% goes to federal authorities. In order to recover those goods or assets, the owner must undergo a long and expensive process carried out by a lawyer and demonstrate the legal origin of those goods, in contrast with the usual procedure which requires the authorities to demonstrate that the assets are illegal.

This practice is the result of a program set up by the Department of Justice (DOJ) named “equitable sharing,” which ‒ unlike criminal confiscation ‒ does not require a guilty verdict to take an individual’s assets. Through and through, this is a violation of individual and private property rights.

The program started in the 1980s as a strategy to combat drug trafficking, and was slightly revised by Congress in 2000 after reports of abuse on the part of the authorities. The use of the program increased after the 9/11 attacks, this time to look for terrorists. The controversy raised by the measure led to minor changes, which were announced with great fanfare in 2014. The program was discontinued by the DOJ in 2015 for lack of funding but was reinstated less than a month ago.

An analysis made by The Washington Post shows that, since 2001, over $2.5 billion in cash have been seized from 55 people, in addition to other assets. It is estimated that 7,600 police departments participated in the Equitable Sharing program. The money obtained in this manner represents more than 20% of the budget of hundreds of police and sheriff departments. These agencies are supposed to use the money only for “law enforcement purposes,” but isolated audits have shown that, in the absence of a control system, the funds are spent on banal expenses such as chrome-plating motorcycle rims.

The solution is eliminating this program which is wrong in every possible way. Congress must get rid of the financial incentives that lead the police to make civil forfeitures, reinforce property rights and the individual’s legal protections, and demand transparency in the seizures and in the use of the funds. A person who has not been convicted of a crime has no reason to lose his or her assets.