If you hadn’t noticed, the debate about civil asset forfeiture is heating up.
This week, the Wyoming state legislature sent the governor a bill that would prevent police from confiscating property until after a conviction for a drug felony. Wyoming’s action is the latest in a movement to curb perverse incentives created by asset forfeiture laws, which sometimes split proceeds from the sale of seized assets among law enforcement agencies.
Wyoming’s action comes on the heels of announcements by Attorney General Eric Holder that the federal “equitable sharing” program, which allows state agencies to end-run local asset forfeiture laws by sending property to the federal government, would be sharply limited. The issue even made an appearance during the hearings for Loretta Lynch’s nomination as Attorney General as Congress considers its own reforms.
We’ll see what Wyoming does next.






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