In Lawmakers Look to Curb Civil Asset Forfeiture in NY Budget Proposal (March 30, 2019), the New York Law Journal reported an important modification in New York State’s civil forfeiture laws. Under the old regime, prosecutors could freeze not just funds they believed were tainted by crime, but also funds that had no criminal taint at all. For people accused of wrongdoing, the results were often large-scale freezes of their assets, causing financial despair lasting the duration of criminal cases.
The new regime reduces this problem, allowing prosecutors to freeze only those assets that they anchor to the crimes charged. This change is welcome. New Yorkers—like defendants in every other state—are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Allowing prosecutors to freeze untainted assets reversed this principle: it allowed law enforcement to destroy someone’s finances not by the scope of proven wrongdoing but by the scope of the sheer allegations.
