DOJ Invites The ATF To The War On Drugs, Grants It Power To Process Its Own 'Drug-Related' Forfeitures

Legal Issues

from the pervs-and-their-incentives dept

If you love our nation’s stupid Drug War and our government’s legalized theft system d/b/a asset forfeiture… well, it’s highly unlikely that you read this blog with any regularity. If you don’t like either of those, then here’s more bad news for you.

The ATF — another rogue DOJ agency and one which was previously only adjacent to the Drug War — has been formally invited by the DOJ to jump in and start seizing more stuff. The initial dip of the ATF’s toe into drug-related administrative forfeiture has been such a moneymaker that the DOJ is permanently removing the only barrier between the ATF and warehouses full of other people’s property.

In February 2013, the Department of Justice started a pilot program allowing the ATF to process property related to drug offenses through administrative forfeiture, when weapons were also being seized. By Sept. 30, 2014, the ATF had seized and processed assets with a total value in excess of $19,300,000, according to the new rule.

The program will continue, according to the Justice Department.

The only thing holding the ATF back from being a full-blown soldier in the War on Drugs was paperwork and logistics. Formerly, if it seized something purportedly “drug-related,” it had to turn it over to the DEA or a US Attorney for processing — the latter option usually resulting in a trip through the court system. No longer. Now, it can handle forfeitures from start-to-finish.

This speeds things up for the US government, which still strongly feels (despite Eric Holder’s recent rule tweak) that taking stuff from people under the assumption that the stuff itself is guilty of criminal activity is a great way to destroy drug empires, punish fraudsters and generally wreak law enforcement havoc on criminal enterprises. For the people on the other end of these “forfeitures” — the only party saddled with the burden of proof — it often looks like nothing more than government-ordained robbery.

According to the DOJ, “fast and effective” is better than “right.”

Administrative forfeiture is expedient and effective, the Justice Department believes.

The DOJ notes, rather disingenuously, that all the legal hassle of disputed forfeitures is “costing” it thousands of dollars every year. Hence, it would prefer that its agencies be allowed to process their own administrative forfeitures, increasing the likelihood that due process will be bypassed some tax dollars can be “saved” while relieving taxpayers of their “guilty” property.

An uncontested administrative forfeiture can be done in 60-90 days for minimal cost, whereas judicial forfeiture generally can take 6 months to a year and cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. In the meantime, the government incurs additional costs if the property requires storage or maintenance until a final order of forfeiture can be obtained, the rule states.

Now, some entities (like the DOJ and its various three-letter underlings) believe that an “uncontested” forfeiture is a tacit admission of guilt. It’s a stupid assumption but it probably lets them sleep better at night. In reality, an “uncontested” seizure is usually the result of a person realizing that an uphill court battle, multiple powerful government agencies and a massive amount of legal fees stand between them and their seized property. In most cases, it isn’t worth the fight.

This policy change perverts the ATF’s incentives, pretty much ensuring that the process will be abused (further) in the future. Anything that speeds up a corrupt and broken process will work out badly for those on the receiving end of the ATF’s new powers. The further muddying of the lines separating agencies’ jurisdictions will only make things worse, turning the ATF into a part-time Drug War ally who will now be looking for anything that might be “drug-related,” rather than limiting itself to its designated duties.

Filed Under: asset forfeitures, atf, doj