Analysis_of_the_Forfeiture_Racket

Megan McMaster 2-25-10 ENG102 Fitzgerald Evaluating “The Forfeiture Racket” By Radley Balko Visualize owning property, lending that property, then ending up in court with a lawsuit, because the person you lent it too, got busted with using the property with illegal actions. You did not know about any of it, yet now' You are sitting in front of a judge, waiting for your hearing. This happens quite frequently in the United States, and people believe they are not getting justice. In the article of “The Forfeiture Racket” by Radley Balko, they go through and examine different court cases and issues on the Federal asset forfeiture law. This article was almost exactly the type of article I wanted to find, and definitely will be using this for my future essays. “The forfeiture Racket” goes through and depicts different cases and stories, which involve the Federal asset forfeiture law. Throughout the essay they give you different examples of how that law works, and how the police have been taking care of it. The law is based on the property itself, not the owner. “The government need only demonstrate that seized property is somehow related to a crime, generally either by showing that I was used in the commission of the act or that it was purchased with the proceeds”(2). The main points that are made through this article are; Guilty Property, Innocent owners, Present Punishment for Future Crimes, Highway Robbery in Texas, ‘its Blatantly Unconstitutional’, ‘Make the Bad Guys Pay’, ‘We All Get Greedy’. All of those topics go more in depth with court cases and how both the police and government are right, or how the defendant is right. This article seems to direct at all of adults, even young adults, because the article starts off with a story of a 22-year-old college student. “The Forfeiture Racket” really want to get across that the government is not always accurate, but most of the time it is. It wants to show both sides of things and how the Federal asset forfeiture law works and what exactly goes on through the process of court when someone is being accused. This source is definitely related to my topic, because I wanted to see how badly the system is or is not corrupt. My issue, Police abuse and corruption, and as this article does not go into abuse, it reveals the corruption part. “In 1984 law lowered the bar for civil forfeiture. To seize property, the government had only to show probable cause to believe that is was connected to drug activity, or the same standard cops use to obtain search warrants.”(3) As you can see the government goes up and down with this law, and that is why I will be investigating more into it. I want to know why exactly the law fluctuates, and what exactly are they trying to be able to do with our liberty of personal property. I will address more into this area for my second essay. While searching for “abuse and corruption in the police force”, you mainly find different cases of someone accusing an officer of brutally hurting them. This article gives another outlook against corruption. I like the way this article’s perspective is at. In the article; it gives different cases, especially after the Federal asset of forfeiture law changes frequently. By the late 1990’s, stories such as Jason Brice’s finally moved congress to act. After several emotion hearings in 2000. (3) All through this article, every time a court case happens and ends up changing the law, they go in depth and more into other cases that also helped changed the law. Radley Balkos’ article is pretty unbiased. It does give more side of the citizens, but also does give the opposing side credibility. He does give the up’s and down’s of both sides, which also helps this article from being biased. With the following two examples, it shows in the article, he does go ahead and give both sides of this situation. It has become routine in the United States for state, local, and federal governments to seize the property of people who were never even charged with, much less convicted of, a crime. (7 and 8) Don’t be surprised, then, if forfeiture power expands in the coming years, particularly with respect to financial fraud, tax evasion, and other white-collar crimes.(7) This source is credible. This source was found in a database used by several colleges, which makes me believe that this source is credible. Also, after researching the author, Radley Balko, I came across several different documents of where he has written. He is currently the Senior Editor for the Reason Magazine, as well has been published in; Playboy, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Time, Reason, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. With these findings, I believe my author and article are indeed credible. Since “The Forfeiture Racket” was written this year, and we are only into our third month, I definitely believe this article is current. Not only does it state recent cases, it goes through the past decade, if not more, of several other related cases and issues. National Public Radio reported in 2008 that in Kingsville, Texas, a town of 25,000, “Police officer drive high-performance Dodge Chargers and use $40,000 digital ticket writers. (6) Obviously that was barely two years ago, so it shows that the article is using different areas of this issue, and issues that have been occurring fairly recent. This source is definitely readable. I did not have any trouble reading through any of the paragraphs and different sections. There were plenty of small paragraphs, so you didn’t get caught up or lose track of what you were reading. Being eight pages long, it is very easy to lose track of what the article is about. Since the author kept the paragraphs short and to the point, it was very easy to stay on track. For example this paragraph on page five is only three sentences long. “The Supreme Court is unlikely to rule on any of those provisions. Instead it will consider a wrinkle that allows the state to keep property for up to six months before giving the owner his first day in court. Innocent property owners can be kept waiting more than a year before getting a decision, a predicament that critics say imposes an unconstitutional burden, particularly in cases where the police have seized someone’s car.(5) In his article Balko does not really use outside sources. He uses court cases, which he cites, also different quotations. As far as that goes, he does a great job relating back to the cases and different situations. While reading this story I found it very easy, and well written. One sentence that proves the author keeps his sentences short and to the point without any problems includes; not every state has kept its old laws intact. (6) Going into these next few essays I wanted an article that talked a lot more about abuse and how badly the system was corrupt. After reading this article it opened up my eyes and gave me a better glance at the different side of each case. The author really helped me open my eyes, and knowing he is a credible source truly helped. I got through this essay with no problems, it was well written, readable, flowed nicely, and stayed current with what my issue is about. With that, I know this is useful for my upcoming essays.