During the last legislative session, the Mississippi legislature allowed the authorization of use of administrative forfeiture to expire in the state. This process that allows the government to grab cash, cars and other property valued at under $20,000 merely by alleging that it is somehow connected to criminal activity. To get your stuff back, you need to then file a petition in court, a costly and time-consuming process requiring a lawyer.

Allowing these “policing for profit” rules to expire was an important story highlighting Mississippi’s leadership in criminal justice reform. But now, some in the legislature are fighting hard to once again permit the government to take YOUR property without DUE PROCESS!

Conservatives rightly understand that private property rights are the bedrock of a free society, and the bar must be high for a government to seize property from its citizen. While criminal forfeiture can and should be used to deprive criminals of their ill-gotten gains, cases of abuse throughout the country show that civil forfeiture—particularly when done administratively and not before a judge—has resulted in untold numbers of innocent property owners losing their vehicles, guns, cash, and other property without ever being charged with or convicted of a crime and the proceeds going to supplement law enforcement agencies’ budgets.

This shouldn’t happen!

Write and Call your Legislator today telling them to OPPOSE the reinstatement of Administrative Forfeiture in Mississippi!

Click here for more information about why administrative forfeiture In Mississippi should not be renewed.