In Alaska it may soon be illegal for the police to just take your stuff without a conviction

Civil forfeiture, policing for profit, is just wrong. If someone has committed a crime and been convicted of that crime, and the property in question was used in the commission of that crime then maybe the state has grounds to confiscate cars, boats, houses, etc. But just because the police arrest someone doesn’t mean that the cops should just be able to take whatever that person owns.

(From The Tenth Amendment Center)

A bill introduced in the Alaska House would reform asset forfeiture laws to prohibit the state from taking property without a criminal conviction in most cases. The legislation also takes on federal forfeiture programs by banning prosecutors from circumventing state laws by passing cases off to the feds in most situations.

Rep. Tammie Wilson [R], Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins [D] and Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux [R] introduced House Bill42 (HB42) on Jan. 18. The legislation would reform Alaska law by requiring a criminal conviction before prosecutors could proceed with asset forfeiture in most cases. Under current law, the state can seize assets even if a person is never found guilty of a crime.

The bills would also require proceeds from forfeitures be deposited into the state general fund. Under current law, Alaska law enforcement agencies keep up to 70% of asset forfeiture money. This provision curbs the policing for profit motive inherent in the current law.

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http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/