Civil asset forfeiture allows the government to confiscate property on the grounds that it is connected to a crime — without ever convicting someone of the crime. In court, a lower burden of proof applies in these civil cases than in criminal cases, even when valuable property such as the vehicle you drive to work is at stake.

Proponents of civil asset forfeiture will argue that such a practice is needed to keep illegal drugs out of Mississippi. That this is the best tool to stop drug mules from crossing Interstates 10 and 20 and reaching your neighborhood. But that argument quickly falls apart when you look at the latest data about the reality of how the practice is used both here in Mississippi and in the nation’s largest civil forfeiture program.

There were 353 seizures in 2019, according to an analysis of records by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. That is up from 315 in 2018. But the average value in 2019 was $6,073.63, down from last year’s average of $8,708.37.

One reason was the lack of large busts. Only one seizure, $100,715 on April 17 by the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, was more than $75,000.

In 2018, there were six seizures of more than $100,000, with the biggest being a bust of vape shops by the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics that netted $644,421.

Only three seizures were $60,000 or more in 2019 after such busts in 2018. The majority of the seizures, 177 were $10,000 or less. In 2018, there were 224 seizures of that amount in the database.

Breaking down the numbers, 118 forfeitures were $2,500 or less in 2019, down from 2018, when 158 met that threshold. Going even lower, 21 were for $500 or less in 2019. That’s down from 2018, when 54 were $500 or less.

A nationwide study also reveals that civil forfeiture fails to fight crime. The non-profit Institute for Justice published a study looking at the nation’s largest forfeiture program: the federal equitable sharing program. This is the Department of Justice program that allows local law enforcement to cooperate on forfeiture with DOJ agencies and receive up to 80 percent of the proceeds.

The study combines more than a decade’s worth of data from the equitable sharing program, with local crime, drug use and economic data from a variety of federal sources. It found that increased forfeiture proceeds did not help police solve crimes or reduce drug abuse. However, increases in forfeiture proceeds were strongly related to economic hardship. When local unemployment rose by 1 percentage point, forfeiture increased by 9 percentage points. 

Many on the right and left have seen how this practice is unfair, and not in line with our principles. That is why there has been push back at the state level, and even from the U.S. Supreme Court in limiting this practice. 

Since 2014, 31 states, including Mississippi, have reformed their civil forfeiture laws. In 2017, the state brought a transparency requirement to civil forfeiture and last year the legislature let the provision of administrative forfeiture die. 

And this year, a bill is moving that would end the practice where law enforcement or prosecutors could request a property owner to waive their rights to their property, often in exchange for charges to be dropped. The new language in the bill will also change the burden of proof for forfeiture to clear and convincing evidence. 

While more reform has been hard to come by, other states have gone further. Seventeen states require a criminal conviction to forfeit most or all types of property. And three states – North Carolina, New Mexico, and Nebraska – have abolished civil forfeiture entirely. What does this look like?

New Mexico enacted sweeping reforms in 2015 abolishing civil forfeiture and replacing it with criminal forfeiture. To forfeit property, the government must convict the owner of a crime and tie that property to the crime with clear and convincing evidence in criminal court. This shifts the burden from the individual to the government, by requiring evidence that the person had knowledge of the crime giving rise to the forfeiture. And finally, all forfeiture proceeds must be deposited into the state’s general fund, eliminating the profit incentive that can distort law enforcement priorities.

Civil asset forfeiture violates fundamental property and due-process rights. If someone has been found guilty of selling or trafficking drugs, their property should be forfeited. But it should take a criminal conviction. That is the national mood, and movement.

States like North Carolina, New Mexico, and Nebraska have not become havens for drug dealers or seen spikes in crime. And again, the latest evidence shows that there is not a relationship between increasing forfeiture and decreasing crime and drug abuse. The choice between civil asset forfeiture and fighting crime is a false dichotomy. We know we can support law enforcement, safeguard our communities, and also protect the constitutional rights of all Mississippians. 

A committee in the Mississippi House gutted what could’ve been a big reform to the state’s civil asset forfeiture system.

House Bill 1398 is sponsored by Rep. Dana Criswell (R-Southaven) and would’ve put caps on what kind of property that state and local governments can acquire via civil asset forfeiture.

The House Judiciary B Committee rewrote the bill (known as a committee substitute), removed the caps, and changed it to end a practice where law enforcement or prosecutors could request a property owner to waive their rights to their property, often in exchange for charges to be dropped. The new language in the bill will also change the burden of proof for forfeiture to clear and convincing evidence.

The original bill would’ve had greater impacts. It would’ve exempted from civil asset forfeiture:

• Homestead real property.
• Currency totaling $500 or less.
• A vehicle with a market value of $2,500 or less.

According to the most recent analysis of the civil asset forfeiture database by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, of the 353 seizures in 2019, 118 of them of them had a total value of $2,500 or less.

There were 41 vehicles seized by law enforcement with an average value of $5,091 in 2019. Of those, 29 would’ve been below the cap set by Criswell’s bill and would’ve have been eligible for forfeiture.

Despite the narrative that civil asset forfeiture is a vital tool for busting big drug cartels, most seizures are small in size. Only three seizures were $60,000 or more in 2019 and 177 had a total value of $10,000 or less.

Right now, state and local law enforcement agencies can seize any property without limits or a cap, even if the property owner hasn’t been charged with a crime. If prosecutors can prove in civil court, with a lower burden of proof, that the property has been used in the commission of a crime or is the proceeds of a crime, a judge can rule in favor of the seizing authority to take title to the property. 

Then the property can be reused by the seizing agency or sold, with the proceeds split 80 percent between the seizing agency and 20 percent to the attorney (either a district attorney or one from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics) that took the case to court.

For the property owner to prevent their property being forfeited to law enforcement, they must file a lawsuit. That happens seldomly, as only 39 property owners contested the forfeiture in court (11.04 percent) in 2019. 

In 2018, 30 property owners filed suit to recover their property, or 9.52 percent.

A gang bill in the Mississippi Senate is intended to combat the rise of gangs in the state’s penitentiaries but could cost taxpayers billions by increasing the state’s prison population after several years of decline.

Senate Bill 2459 — sponsored by state Sen. Brice Wiggins (R-Pascagoula) — would add additional penalties for felonies (up to 15 years in prison and/or a fine of between $10,000 and $15,000) committed as part of a gang on top of the original sentence. It would also render those convicted of being in a gang as ineligible for parole and earned time. Wiggins’ bill also would make criminal gang activity a violent crime even if the underlying offense committed is non-violent. 

Also, the burden of proof for convicting one of criminal gang activity would be a preponderance of evidence, a lower evidentiary standard that is used in civil court. This is below the standard required for criminal court, which is beyond a reasonable doubt.

With that kind of language in the bill, the number of those considered gang members under the law would increase, swelling the prison population along with longer sentences. Using data from the Mississippi Department of Corrections at a cost of $39.91 per day to house each inmate, each 15-year sentence for gang-related felonies would cost between $44,000 and $218,000 per prisoner. If the 11,917 state prisoners that the MDOC identified as gang members had been sentenced under the language in Wiggins’ bill, the state could've added up to $2.6 billion in additional costs.

Passage of SB 2459 will also undo many of the criminal justice reform efforts that have lowered the number of those incarcerated while cutting the amount spent by taxpayers on corrections.

In January 2014, before the passage of House Bill 585, the state’s inmate population was 22,008. Violent offenders made up 34.7 percent (7,632 inmates) of the prison population. As of January 2020, the state’s prison population is 19,057 and violent offenders (9,410) represent 49.38 percent of it. That still ranks Mississippi the third highest nationally, trailing only Louisiana and Oklahoma.

According to testimony given by Chief Justice Mike Randolph to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, taxpayers have saved $452 million in incarceration costs since the passage of HB 585 in 2014.

A similar bill in the House, HB 816, will likely die without making it out of committee. State Rep. Fred Shanks (R-Brandon) authored the House version.

Another problem with SB 2459 is there is already existing law governing gangs on the books in the Magnolia State.

The Mississippi Street Gang Act was passed in 1997 and allows the state Attorney General, district attorneys, or a county attorney to bring a civil case against any gang (defined as three or more persons with an established hierarchy that engages in felonious criminal activity). 

The existing law also proscribes that anyone convicted a felony committed for, directed by or in association with a criminal street gang would be imprisoned for no less than one year and no more than one half of the maximum imprisonment term for that offense.

Those selling or buying goods or performing services for a gang could face the same punishment as above and an a possible fine of up to $10,000.

House Bill 1200, sponsored by Rep. Stacey Hobgood-Wilkes, would create the FORUM Act to expressly permit all forms of peaceful assembly, protests, speeches and guest speakers, distribution of literature, carrying signs, and circulating  petitions.

Schools would not be able to create specific "free speech zones" and they may not deny a religious, political, or ideological student organization any benefit or privilege available to any other student organization, or otherwise discriminate against such an organization, based on the expression of the organization.

This, unfortunately, is needed in Mississippi.

A former student at Jones County Junior College is suing the school for infringing on his free speech rights, and the U.S. Department of Justice is supporting his suit. 

Michael Brown was stopped twice by campus police for trying to inform students about the political club he was involved with, Young Americans for Liberty, without prior authorization from the school’s administration, according to the complaint filed by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. 

Brown was stopped by campus officials early last year about an inflatable beach ball, known as a “free speech ball,” upon which students could write messages of their choice and again in the spring for polling students about marijuana legalization. 

An administrator told YAL that they weren’t permitted on campus since they hadn’t sought permission from the college.

The current regulations at JCJC require at least three days’ notice to administrators before “gathering for any purpose.” The student handbook also puts even more restrictions on college-connected student organizations, which must schedule their events through the vice president of student affairs. The school administration also reserves the right, according to the handbook, to not schedule a speaker or an activity.

The DOJ statement says that these restrictions operate as a prior restraint on student speech and contain no exception for individuals or small groups, and grant school officials unbridled discretion to determine about what students may speak.

MCPP has reviewed this legislation and finds that it is aligned with our principles and therefore should be supported. 

Read HB 1200.

Track the status of this bill and all bills in our legislative tracker. 

House Bill 1077, sponsored by Rep. Nick Bain, would give the Public Service Commission the authority to employ fraud and enforcement agents, who will have law enforcement powers to conduct civil asset forfeiture. 

The new agents will investigate any alleged violations of the Mississippi Telephone Solicitation Act, Caller ID Anti-Spoofing Act, Automatic Dialing-Announcing Devices Act, Unsolicited Residential Telephonic Sales Calls Act and the rules, regulations, and general orders ofthe PSC. 

But the powers of the new agents also include the ability to conduct civil asset forfeiture. This simply expands civil asset forfeiture in Mississippi at a time when the mood is to reform the process – rather than make it easier for the state to keep your seized property. 

Civil asset forfeiture allows the government to take and keep property allegedly connected to crime – without ever convicting the owner of a crime. State and local law enforcement agencies can seize money, vehicles, and other property, sell that property, and use the proceeds to fund agency budgets. 

The forfeited property does not even have to belong to the person suspected of criminal activity. While innocent owners may contest the forfeiture of their property, they must affirmatively prove that they did not have knowledge or give consent for their property to be used for illegal purposes. Proving a negative in a court of law can be quite difficult, and expensive. 

Forfeiture cases are civil proceedings that lack many of the meaningful due process safeguards provided in criminal cases. There is a lower burden of proof, no presumption of innocence, no right to an attorney, and no preliminary hearing to ensure wrongfully seized property will be returned quickly. 

MCPP has reviewed this legislation and finds that it violates our principles and therefore must be opposed.  

Read HB 1077. 

Track the status of this and all bills in our legislative tracker.

A bill in the Mississippi Legislature could help prevent a practice that some consider to be an abridgement of the Second Amendment

Under present law, one merely has to be in possession of a loaded firearm on a street, public road, highway, levee, or railroad to be charged with illegal hunting from a roadway without any clarifying language.

Senate Bill 2219, authored by state Sen. Joseph Seymour (R-Vancleave), would change existing law to require that one would have to have a firearm in their hands or on the external surface of a vehicle before a ticket for illegal hunting from a roadway can be issued. The bill would also add language that would protect those engaged in lawful action to protect their property or livestock.

The number of tickets issued, which can range in cost from $100 to $500, for those with their weapons in their trucks are on the rise statewide.

Seymour says it’s a Second Amendment issue and should be fixed. He also said most hunters caught in the dragnet just pay the ticket rather than fighting in court.

Brandon Smith of Hattiesburg was on the side of the road in the Desoto National Forest trying to get some of his dogs back. His hunting day had ended and two of his weapons, a rifle and a shotgun, were loaded and in his truck. An officer from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks pulled over and ticketed Smith for hunting from the road.

In 2017, Josh Lloyd of Vancleave was ticketed for the same offense despite having his rifle in his truck. He’d pulled off the road to get some of his dogs as his hunting day was finished, with his rifle in the truck. A MWFP game warden saw him and ticketed him for the same offense.

Larry Perry, a Perry County native, was on his way to his camp in the early evening this year. Same story, different verse. He was trying to gather his dogs to head back to his camp with a loaded rifle in his truck. A MWFP game warden issued him a ticket even though he hadn’t taken his rifle out while he was parked.

Both Lloyd and Perry fought their tickets in court even though the cost of doing so, according to Lloyd, was more than the ticket itself. Lloyd said it was the principle of the thing that made him fight the ticket.

Seymour also has a bill that would clarify the standard by which conservation officers can search a vehicle or premises or make an arrest for violations of the state’s game laws. SB 2275 would put state conservation officers under the probable cause standard, which is the one that governs every other law enforcement officer in the state. 

Probable cause is when there is a reasonable basis for belief by law enforcement that a crime has been committed, which can authorize a warrantless search or even an arrest.

Right now, the law only says for cause, which could be considered a lower standard.

House Bill 1408, sponsored by Rep. Chris Brown, will add numerous layers of transparency to the state’s civil asset forfeiture database.

On the state’s civil asset forfeiture database, law enforcement is required to provide the name of the agency that sized the property, a description of the seized item, and a copy of the notice of intent or petition for forfeiture. 

This bill would require law enforcement to now provide: The date of the seizure, the place of the seizure, alleged criminal offense, crime for which the suspect is being charged, outcome of the criminal case, method of final forfeiture, value of property forfeited, circumstances of the search and seizure, type of controlled substance, the cost to the agency for this forfeiture case, and what the law enforcement agency used the property for if it was retained.

This would provide more information to the public on what is being forfeited by the state, and the details around the forfeiture. 

MCPP has reviewed this legislation and finds that it is aligned with our principles and therefore should be supported. 

Read HB 1408.  

Track the status of this bill and all bills in our legislative tracker. 

House Bill 838, sponsored by Rep. Nick Bain, allows individuals leaving state prisons to use Mississippi Department of Corrections documents as qualifying papers to obtain a driver’s license.

For ex-offenders to land gainful employment, they generally need a driver’s license. Something that has been a hinderance. This will make that process easier by allowing MDOC documents in lieu of a birth certificate or social security card.

As more ex-offenders enter the workforce, we will then see a decrease in our recidivism rate and an increase in our employment rate.

MCPP has reviewed this legislation and finds that it is aligned with our principles and therefore should be supported. 

Read HB 838. 

Track the status of this bill and all bills in our legislative tracker. 

The former police chief of a north Mississippi town that receives a large percentage of its income from fines and forfeitures was arrested Wednesday on charges of embezzlement.

The state auditor’s office announced Wednesday that its agents arrested the former police chief of Walls, Herb Brewer for embezzlement.

Brewer was indicted by a grand jury convened by DeSoto County District Attorney John Champion.

Brewer was accused of embezzling $1,850 by selling vehicles seized by the police department and pocketing the proceeds. According to the auditor’s office, he allegedly sold a Ford Mustang and a Chevrolet Tahoe to members of his own family. 

He was issued a demand letter for $6,943 at the time of his arrest, which includes interest and investigative costs. Investigators found that Brewer sold the vehicles for less than they were worth and this was also added to the demand letter.

If convicted, he faces $5,000 in fines and a five-year prison sentence.

Walls is a town of (1,379 population) in Desoto County and was ranked first in a recent study by Governing magazine which rank cities and towns nationwide on the amount of their budgets coming from fines and forfeitures. 

An analysis of data from the Mississippi Center for Public Policy found that the town ranked second to State Line in terms of per capita income from fines and forfeitures.

Walls ranked second with 26.53 percent of its general fund budget from fines and forfeitures in 2017. It was 19.5 percent for all revenues, including the utility fund. 

Except for one outlier in 2006, when fines and forfeitures made up 19.32 percent of the city’s budget, the percentage of city revenues dependent on fines and forfeitures was in single digits. 

In 2013, the percentage of the city’s revenues ($941,915) sourced from fines and forfeitures ($152,788) crossed the 15 percent threshold and hasn’t gone lower since.  

Fines and forfeitures in Walls, Mississippi