It’s Time to End Civil Forfeitures for Good
The Burlington Free Press reported on October 27th that the Vermont U.S. Attorney’s Office had filed papers for the civil forfeiture of the Lambda Iota fraternity house on Pearl St. in Burlington because a few fraternity members were allegedly selling drugs, and two members of the Board of Governors were among the customers. (The article closely follows a press release from the U.S. Attorney.) Meanwhile the property’s owners, the 600+ member Lambda Iota Society, are the ones in line to take the loss. This seems like a return to the real estate feeding frenzy during the bad old days of the George Terwilliger administration (1986-1991), an administration severely criticized by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy.
The civil forfeiture statutes rely on the absurd notion that the property itself is guilty, and real estate can still be forfeited even though the owner has been found innocent of any underlying crimes. The abuses of these statutes were so numerous and so blatant that many U.S. Attorneys turned instead to the criminal forfeiture statutes in cases where forfeiture was warranted. Congress also stepped in, most recently passing the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (See 18 USC 983(d)) Apparently it’s still not enough to protect innocent owners from legalized theft by the federal government.
The forfeiture statutes were sold to the public as a method to deprive criminals of ill-gotten gains. Instead, it’s really about raising more money for the government (and local law enforcement if there is local participation as in this case.) As the U.S. Supreme Court observed almost 15 years ago: “The extent of the Government’s financial stake in drug forfeiture is apparent from a 1990 memo, in which the Attorney General [Thornburg] urged United States Attorneys to increase the volume of forfeitures in order to meet the Department of Justice’s annual budget target”. (US v. James Daniel Good Real Property 510 U.S. 43, 56 n.2 (1993))
Even if the Lambda Iota Society is successful in defending its right to the property, it will have incurred enormous legal expenses in the process. The criminal forfeiture statutes permit the seizure of property gained illegally. The civil procedures have no place in a free society, and should be abolished entirely.
(The government charges for online viewing of public documents. The primary ones in this case may be viewed for free on this blogsite. The docket sheet lists the numbered documents.)