Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Support
  • WSKG Passport
  • School Closings
Donate
  • Donate
  • logo
  • logo
  • Donate
  • Home
  • News
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Schedules
  • Events
  • Arts
  • Education
  • History
  • Science
  • Donate
  • More
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Support
    • WSKG Passport
    • School Closings

WSKG - Local news and arts, broadcasting NPR radio and PBS TV.

WSKG (https://wskg.org/news/the-end-of-civil-asset-forfeiture-us-supreme-court-ruling-has-advocates-hopeful/)

  • Donate
  • Home
  • News
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Schedules
  • Events
  • Arts
  • Education
  • History
  • Science
Listen Live - WSKG
Trusted News, Thoughtful Conversations
Listen Live - WSKG Classical
Music and More

The End Of Civil Asset Forfeiture? US Supreme Court Ruling Has Advocates Hopeful

By Bobby Allyn | February 22, 2019
More
  • More on courts
  • Subscribe to courts

KEYSTONE CROSSROADS – The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday placed limits on the ability of local law enforcement to seize homes, cars and cash from people suspected of being involved in crime.

Writing for all nine justices in a unanimous decision, Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the Eighth Amendment’s ban on excessive fines applies to state and local government and should limit the ability of  law enforcement to seize assets that are grossly disproportionate to the gravity of the suspected crime. The case centered around an Indiana man suspected of selling $400 worth of heroin whose $42,000 Land Rover was taken by authorities.

“The protection against excessive fines has been a constant shield throughout Anglo-American history: Exorbitant tolls undermine other constitutional liberties,” Ginsburg wrote.

The ruling is not expected to have a direct impact on Pennsylvania, where the state’s high court delivered a decision in recent years that went beyond Wednesday’s news.

Pennsylvania law has long allowed authorities to use civil asset forfeiture programs that operate based only on the suspicion of criminal activity. Often these cases involve suspected drug traffickers and aim to deprive them of their working capital and profits.

In May 2017, the Pennsylvania high court ruled that in order seize someone’s property through a civil forfeiture proceeding, the person whose property is being taken must have “actual knowledge” of the alleged illegal activity and the person must have agreed to allow the activity to happen.

With this bar raised, it is possible that it has impacted how often police use civil asset forfeiture, but the full effect of the 2017 decision remains unclear.

According to the most recent statewide data, Pennsylvania authorities are still generating tens of millions of dollars for law enforcement agencies across the state annually by selling the seized assets.

“And that presents a direct conflict of interest. When police and prosecutors have a direct financial stake in the property they seize or the outcome of forfeiture proceeds, there can never be an impartial administration of justice,” said Darpana Sheth, a lawyer with the Institute of Justice, a group opposed to civil asset forfeiture.

The organization tracks the use of civil asset forfeiture nationwide and grades states based on how closely the programs line up with the U.S. Constitution.

Pennsylvania, the group says, has some of the most abusive civil asset forfeiture laws in the country.

“Civil forfeiture is essentially an end-run around the criminal justice system,” Sheh said. “It subjects people to punishment, but doesn’t afford them the right to the attorney, the right to have to be proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Civil forfeiture undermines all of those guarantees.”

For years, the organization has been locked in a legal challenge with the city of Philadelphia over civil asset forfeiture.

A proposed settlement agreement is now awaiting a federal judge’s approval that would pay out $3 million to those whose assets were taken by Philadelphia authorities in a manner that Sheth said deprived them of basic rights to due process and equal protection under the law.

City prosecutors in Philadelphia illegally seized $64 million worth of homes, cars and cash from people suspected of being tied to the drug trade over a ten-year period, according to Sheth’s filings as part of her group’s lawsuit.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is opposed to civil forfeiture and has promised not to use it, a position formed after local reporting revealed what critics said was rampant abuse of the program by his predecessors on the backs of people who had little ability to contest the seizures.

A WHYY investigation found that the proceeds of the seized assets flowed into an unregulated budget that was used to buy wish list items such as submachine guns and custom uniform embroidery.

Sheh hopes Wednesday’s decision leads the U.S. Supreme Court to take a case that could completely ban the practice.

“We hope that this is just the first in a series of cases that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up to examine the constitutional limits of civil forfeiture,” she said.

Keystone Crossroads is a statewide reporting collaborative of WITF, WPSU and WESA, led by WHYY. This story originally appeared at https://whyy.org/programs/keystone-crossroads/.

Recent Posts

  • Witch Hazel: A NY Native Extending Pollinators’ Season

    VESTAL, NY (WSKG) — Witch Hazel is a small tree with multiple smooth trunks and flowers that look otherworldly, burgundy with yellow petals bursting out that look like crinkled yellow ribbons. As trees shed their leaves in the fall the flowers bloom, from October to December.

  • Southern Tier Escapes The Worst Of Flu Season, For Now

    VESTAL, NY (WSKG) - New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker has declared the flu prevalent across the state. That means healthcare workers who aren’t vaccinated must wear a surgical mask.

  • A Mark Twain Holiday Concert

    The Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes presents its Holiday Concert, Music and Literature.  Music Director Toshiyuki Shimada joins us to talk about the concert inspired by the Christmas letters of Mark Twain.   Photo credit: OSFL

  • Flu Now ‘Prevalent’ In New York

    ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - The annual declaration from health authorities that the flu is prevalent in New York state kicked off a series of rules for hospitals and nursing homes. People who work in health care and are not vaccinated now need to wear surgical masks around patients.

  • Protesters Deliver Resignation Letters For Chancellor, Public Safety Chief At Syracuse University

    Syracuse University student protesters walked out of classes Thursday, demanding the resignations of the chancellor, public safety chief and others. Protesters said they do not have confidence in those officials to carry out the changes they said are needed, after racist graffiti, vandalism and other incidents occurred on campus last month.

About WSKG

WSKG connects you to local and global news and the arts online, on the radio, and on TV. NPR and PBS affiliate.

Contact Us

email: WSKGcomment@wskg.org

phone: 607.729.0100

address: 601 Gates Road, Vestal, NY 13850

DONATE

Pay an underwriting invoice

  • WSKG
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Science
  • News
  • Radio On Demand
  • Schedule
  • TV
  • About
  • WSKG Staff
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Public Reports & Policies
  • Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
  • Protect My Public Media
FCC PUBLIC FILES
WSKG-FM
WSQX-FM
WSQG-FM
WSQE
WSQA
WSQC-FM
WSQN
WSKG-TV
WSKA
Disabled and need assistance with the online FCC public file?
Contact Gregory Keeler
WSKG
601 Gates Road
Vestal, New York 13850
607-729-0100
gkeeler@wskg.org

Stay Connected

Like Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on InstagramSubscribe via RSS

© Copyright 2019, WSKG

Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Back to top ↑

No, thanks