By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
“People walk down the street with money in their pocket. It could be for rent or groceries and if they’re stopped and frisked, it’s taken out of their pocket and then they’re subject to this very burdensome procedure,” said Jeanne LoCicero, deputy legal director of the ACLU of New Jersey.
That’s how New Jersey’s ACLU describes asset forfeiture and charges the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office is illegally suing people to keep their cash and possessions seized by officers on the street.
“It’s a violation of the Constitution and it’s fundamentally unfair,” said LoCicero.
It’s certainly lucrative. Hudson County recently purchased a $100,000 crime scene van, totally paid for by assets forfeited in court. And it’s easy.
“You don’t have to be charged with a crime or convicted of a crime. All they have to do is suspect that the money’s related to a crime, and that’s a very low burden for law enforcement,” LoCicero said.
Want your money back? Previously you could argue for it in special civil court, but the Hudson prosecutor now bundles 20 or more cases together so you have to go to Superior Court and pay a $175 filing fee. Even if officers only seized $50 or $100.
“People who have small amounts of money and have to pay these steep court costs are not going to be fighting back,” LoCicero said.
The ACLU sued, calling it an unconstitutional burden on poor people. But the Hudson County Prosecutor, Ester Suarez, noted, “Proceeds from any criminal activity are often utilized by defendants to purchase goods which are used to facilitate future crimes. The HCPO will continue to take all lawful action to ensure that crime in our county does not pay and that any proceeds of a crime are removed from the hands of the criminals and used for a lawful public purpose.”
Hudson’s not the only prosecutor’s office in New Jersey to use asset forfeiture to fund certain projects. But the activity’s drawn criticism from some social justice groups.
“Law enforcement across the state is engaged in policing for profit. Over $22 million a year is seized from New Jersey residents and forfeited and then goes to supplement the budget of law enforcement,” said Lee McGrath.
McGrath’s with the Institute for Justice, which compiled a report that graded states on this issue. It gave New Jersey a D-minus.
New Jersey’s constitution requires that someone be convicted of a crime before they receive sanctions. But prosecutors across the state are engaged in a legal fiction that doesn’t require a conviction,” McGrath said. “Their orientation is not to get bad guys. Or people suspected of a crime. They’re in it for cash and vehicles.”
The state attorney general’s office had no comment but has previously stated New Jersey’s forfeiture restrictions are stricter than in many other states. But advocates say New Jersey should follow the example of New Mexico and Nebraska, which have replaced civil with criminal forfeiture. That means you’ve got to be convicted of a crime before a prosecutor can move to take your property.