The Police Arresting A House - 2425 Words

Imagine the police arresting a house. The owner of this house is not in trouble, just their house. This is asset forfeiture at its finest. Asset forfeiture has a wide range of main points to discuss as well as a numerous amount of sub-topics. This form of government control makes a very strong point about how powerful the government has become and how easy it is for them to over-power American’s today. On the other hand, it shows how dedicated law enforcement is to decreasing the crime rates in multiple areas of the country. With that said, there are several viewpoints on asset forfeiture and how it affects Americans as a whole. A few of these viewpoints is that civil asset forfeiture comes with the implication that police just take†¦show more content†¦How can police try and eliminate drugs from the community if they cannot properly follow procedures that enable them to do so? Most civil cases are very limited in the area of ceasing particular property assets because the owner could possibly not have had anything to do with the actual crime or have any previous criminal activity. Civil asset forfeiture requires a stronger connection to the crime than criminal because it is their property that did the wrong doing (McCaw, 2011). Criminal cases on the other hand have a huge range of potential ceasing opportunities. Each one of these asset forfeiture procedures follows a very specific set of regulations outlined in the forfeiture laws. People tend to have a problem with these laws because â€Å"the proceedings take away a person’s 4th and 14th amendment rights outlined in the constitution† which leave most Americans’ very upset and can lead to homelessness in certain situations (Helms Costanza, 2009). This is one reason that asset forfeiture is such a controversial issue. Another reason that people are starting to underestimate the government is because they are not properly educated on the topic. Police and government officials â€Å"have been utilizing asset forfeiture laws for over a couple hundred years† resulting in a long history of people hating the police (Schaldenbrand, 2010). Having been using these laws for 200+ years, the law enforcement agencies have found numerous loopholes in the