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IPFS News Link • Government

Stealing From The Citizenry: How Government Goons Use Civil Asset Forfeiture To Rob...

• http://www.zerohedge.com,by John Whitehead

"Civil forfeiture laws represent one of the most serious assaults on private property rights in the nation today. Under civil forfeiture, police and prosecutors can seize your car or other property, sell it and use the proceeds to fund agency budgets—all without so much as charging you with a crime. Unlike criminal forfeiture, where property is taken after its owner has been found guilty in a court of law, with civil forfeiture, owners need not be charged with or convicted of a crime to lose homes, cars, cash or other property. Americans are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but civil forfeiture turns that principle on its head.  With civil forfeiture, your property is guilty until you prove it innocent."

- " Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture," Institute for Justice

In jolly old England, Robin Hood stole from the rich to give to the poor.

In modern-day America, greedy government goons steal from the innocent to give to the corrupt under court- and legislature-sanctioned schemes called civil asset forfeiture. In fact, according to The Washington Post, "law enforcement took more stuff from people than burglars did."

This is how the American police state continues to get rich: by stealing from the citizenry.


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