Mississippi Civil Forfeiture Essay

Our criminal system has numerous felony cases depending on the crime that are committed. Mississippi has a law that allows property to be seized, and possibly forfeited, if it is assumed to have connection with a violation of controlled substances laws. To validate a forfeiture,” the State must essentially prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that an item of property was “used” or “intended to be used” in violation of the law. Some items of property subject to forfeiture are intuitive – drugs, drug containers, paraphernalia and items used to manufacture drugs are all routinely forfeited”. Under Mississippi’s civil forfeiture laws the government has to connect property to a crime by a multitude of evidence in order to forfeit it. However, an innocent owner has to prove their own innocence to get their seized property back. Law enforcement agencies can keep 80 percent of forfeiture proceeds if only one agency investigated the case and a 100 percent if more than one agency was involved. …show more content…
“When forfeiture is limited to taking the property of convicted criminals, it can be a legitimate law enforcement tool. But that’s not the case with civil forfeiture. This practice erodes fundamental private property and due process rights for Mississippians,” Forest Thigpen, president of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, noted in a release. The Mississippi legislature is presently take into consideration a bill that would provide greater clearness for forfeiture in the state. Under the new version overwhelmingly passed by the House, the bill now would need police and prosecutors to reveal how much they get through forfeiture and would require agencies to show whether or not the owners of the property were charged with a