From: bobworn@aol.com
Subject: SNET: AUTO SEIZURES v. DUE PROCESS
Date: 8 Aug 2000 08:46:57 -0400
To: EasterFairy@BrightEggs.Com, ToothBunny@QuarterUnderThePillow.Net
-> SNETNEWS Mailing List
BOB'S NOTE: Quoted here for your review are the 4th and 2nd Amendments to
the Constitution of the United States of America. They were listed in this
order for this article only. If "they" ignore the protection of the 4th
amendment, should not "We The People" use the 2nd? Just a thought. I
certainly would AND WILL.
Bob Worn
ARTICLE IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be searched, and the persons
or things to be seized.
ARTICLE II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security
of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear
Arms, shall not be infringed.
^^^~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^ Original Item ^^^~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^
AUTO SEIZURES v. DUE PROCESS
Police in Oakland, Calif., may continue to seize automobiles that
they suspect are being used to purchase illegal drugs or solicit
prostitution, even if the owners have not been convicted of crimes, a
California appeals court ruled recently.
Clearly, this violates due process, an essential component of any
justice system worthy of the name. (California lawmakers passed a
bill last year banning such ordinances but Gov. Davis vetoed it.) So
how did we end up with such a travesty?
A key cause has been faulty incentives -- incentives that insulate
lawmakers from the outcomes of their policies, explain Independent
Institute Research Fellows Donald Boudreaux and Adam Pritchard.
In their study "Civil Forfeiture as a Sin Tax," Boudreaux and
Pritchard explain that, like other excise taxes, asset forfeiture
mostly benefits a small group of adept bureaucrats and imposes its
relatively hidden costs on individuals with little political power --
and the majority, who are unaware of the problems of such policies.
"Such shakedowns... are precisely the kinds of government
overreaching that the rule of law and constitutional protections are
supposed to prevent. The Bill of Rights is intended to restrain
government's scope of action in dealing with the criminally accused."
For more information, see a summary of Boudreaux and Pritchard's
"Civil Forfeiture as a Sin Tax" at
http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-30-1.html. Also see
TAXING CHOICE: The Predatory Politics of Fiscal Discrimination,
edited by William F. Shughart II (The Independent Institute, 1998),
at http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-30-2.html.
Also see "Predatory Public Finance and the Origins of the War
on Drugs, 1984-1989" by Bruce L. Benson and David W. Rasmussen (THE
INDEPENDENT REVIEW, Fall 1996)
http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-30-3.html.
For more on the Oakland seizure ordinance, see "Oakland Vehicle
Seizures Are Legal" (San Francisco Examiner, 7/22/00) at
http://www.independent.org/tii/lighthouse/LHLink2-30-4.html.
###
Excerpted via THE LIGHTHOUSE "Enlightening Ideas for Public Policy..."
VOL. 2, ISSUE 30 August 7, 2000
The Lighthouse, the e-mail newsletter of The Independent Institute,
the non-partisan, public policy research organization
http://www.independent.org
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