B.2(o). Forfeiture Restrictions and Victim Restitution

The government cannot seize any property prior to conviction, except physical items necessary to conduct a good-faith prosecution, such as evidence, including weapons, documents, or contaminated clothing. Seizure of any other assets may occur only after conviction and must be accompanied by a separate judicial hearing for each asset to establish a direct connection to the offense.

Law enforcement can only seize property that is evidence of a crime until a person is convicted. They can’t just take anything and everything – cars, homes, computers, etc. After a person is convicted, additional property can be seized, but each item requires a separate hearing, and law enforcement has the burden to show how that item is directly connected to the crime in question.

Property belonging to a person other than the convicted defendant may only be seized if it is material evidence of a crime.

If your sister borrows your car and uses it to rob a bank, the authorities don’t get to keep your car, unless it is somehow evidence of the bank robbery. For example, if she simply drove it to the bank and ditched it there. It is still your car. If she drove it there and used it as a getaway car, they might be able to keep it until she is convicted if it is evidence.

If original ownership of property can be clearly established, that property must be returned to its rightful owner.

Even if they kept it as evidence, the authorities have to return the car your sister borrowed after she is convicted.

If not, any proceeds from the sale of seized assets must be distributed to the victims of the crime or donated to established victims' rights organizations. The cost of seizure, cataloging, or sale cannot be deducted from those proceeds. No jurisdiction, agency, or governmental body may retain or benefit from the sale or disposal of seized property.

Seizure should serve a clear purpose in upholding the law. It shouldn’t be a means for an agency to fund itself. This language removes a perverse profit incentive for some jurisdictions to seize property for profit, rather than for the legitimate purposes of law enforcement.