The Institute for Justice (IJ)
recently announced a big push to attempt to force reforms to the
various broken civil asset forfeiture systems that law enforcement
agencies and prosecutors’ offices used to strip citizens of their
money and property to keep for themselves. At the time, IJ Senior
Attorney Scott Bullock told Reason to
expect a “whole string” of new cases coming over the next
year.
This week, IJ sets its sights on Philadelphia, filing a class
action suit with the assistance of law firm Kairys, Rudovsky,
Messing & Feinberg. Here’s how IJ describes Philadelphia’s
terrible system, clearly weighted against its own citizenry:
Property owners who find out that Philadelphia is threatening to
take their cash, cars and even homes must go to Courtroom 478 in
City Hall. But Courtroom 478 isn’t a courtroom at all: there is no
judge or jury, just the prosecutors who run the show. Owners who
ask if they need a lawyer are frequently told that one isn’t
necessary, only to then be given a stack of complicated legal
documents they must fill out under oath. Time and time again,
property owners must return to Courtroom 478—up to ten or more
times in some cases— to answer questions and prove their property
was never involved in a crime. If they miss a single appearance,
they can lose their property forever. Making matters worse, Philadelphia’s police and prosecutors get
to keep and use everything that the machine snatches up.
Philadelphia’s population is smaller than Brooklyn, New York’s and
Los Angeles County’s, but Philadelphia brings in twice as much
forfeiture revenue as the two—combined. Forfeiture revenue equals
almost 20 percent of the District Attorney’s Office’s annual budget
and the city spends nearly 40 percent of those proceeds on
salaries, including the salaries of the very police and prosecutors
doing the seizing. “Philadelphia’s forfeiture scheme is especially outrageous. It
allows the District Attorneys to pad their budget with millions of
dollars in unaccountable funds by stripping innocent residents of
their rights and property,” said IJ attorney and lead counsel on
the case, Darpana Sheth. “Over a ten-year period police and
prosecutors took in over $64 million in forfeiture proceeds—with
$25 million going toward their salaries. The city’s residents are
not ATMs.”
IJ is starting off the case by representing the family of
Christos Sourovelis, who have had their home threatened by
authorities because his son was caught selling $40 worth of drugs
outside their house.
Read more about the case
here.
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