---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 22:53:34 -0600 From: Ewin H. Barnett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Friend <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: ACLU piece against forfeiture One of the few times I can agree with an ACLU position! >From the ACLU's email newsletter: ACLU Freedom Network Web Page: http://www.aclu.org. ACLU Op-Ed Advertisement Asks: "Did You Know the Money in Your Wallet Could Be Legally Confiscated?" FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, December 11, 1998 NEW YORK--Police agencies across the country are relieving innocent people of cash, cars and other property -- and it's all perfectly legal, the American Civil Liberties Union warned today. In the ninth installment of its public policy advertising campaign running on the op-ed page of The New York Times and The New Republic, the ACLU said that because 75 percent of American money is tainted with cocaine, police have the right to seize people's cash, as well as any other assets they can get their hands on. "In 1984, Congress gave police the right to keep and spend any 'drug-related' assets they seize," the advertisement says. "Police have since taken cars, homes, restaurants, and cash in epidemic proportions. And they can use these assets for anything from patrol cars to parties." The year-long advertising campaign, a first-ever effort for the 78-year-old organization, has run on The New York Times op-ed page once a month during 1998. Each ad contained a briefly worded message from ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser on topical subjects ranging from the war on drugs to religious freedom to government intrusions in the bedroom. In the current ad, Glasser says that most of the victims of government forfeiture laws aren't criminals. "Like the 75-year-old grandmother who lost her home because her drug-dealing son had once lived there. Or the landscaper whose $9,000 was seized at the airport because Ôonly drug dealers carry that much cash.'" Those and other stories have landed the issue before Congress, prompting House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde, R-IL, to introduce the bi-partisan "Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act" to overhaul the nation's laws on property seizures. In June 1997 Congressional testimony supporting the bill, ACLU President Nadine Strossen said that reforms are critically needed because "innocent property owners, or those who have committed only minor infractions are now subject to draconian punishments and property deprivations." The bill is expected to be re-introduced in the 106th Congress, and the ACLU is urging people to support the measure. One leading historian, today's ad notes, calls forfeiture laws nothing less than a government "license to steal." "The war on drugs has become a war on the Constitution," the ad concludes. "What kind of country rewards its police for shaking down its own citizens?" To further stimulate public discussion, the ad will have an interactive component through a "message board" on the ACLU's Freedom Network Website at http://www.aclu.org/features/nytimesad121198.html. Visitors to the website will be able to access background information on the subject of this month's ad, and will be invited to post their own thoughts to an interactive message board. Today's ad concludes the op-ed series for 1998. The ACLU said that it is contemplating continuing the popular feature in the coming year. The ACLU is a nationwide, non-partisan organization dedicated to defending and preserving the Bill of Rights for all individuals through litigation, legislation and public education. Headquartered in New York City, the ACLU has 53 staffed affiliates in major cities, more than 300 chapters nationwide, and a legislative office in Washington. The bulk of its $35 million annual budget is raised by contributions from members -- 275,000 strong -- and gifts and grants from other individuals and foundations. The ACLU does not accept government funds. The new ACLU advertisement can be found at: http://www.aclu.org/features/nytimesad121198.html
