02/15/2012
https://www.congress.gov...
"This Committee has an opportunity to end an injustice, an injustice that disproportionately affects minorities and the poor, by reforming our civil asset forfeiture laws."
"This program provides a perverse incentive that encourages government to confiscate property because government officials get to keep up to 80 percent of the proceeds."
"These laws were originally intended to disrupt criminal networks, but they have increasingly been used against innocent citizens to strip them of their property without a lawyer to defend their rights..."
"My hope is as the Committee moves forward, that you will use some of our ideas or include some of our ideas in your deliberation."