Letters: Protect innocent victims from civil forfeiture

ISSUE | CIVIL FORFEITURE

Law needed to protect innocent victims

Abusive civil-forfeiture practices are before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in an appeal that will require the court to apply important constitutional protections intended to curb excessive punishment ("Time for high court to rein in Pa. civil-forfeiture laws," May 11).

Elizabeth Young, a 71-year-old grandmother, had her West Philadelphia home and car seized for small amounts of marijuana sold by her adult son. Young was not involved in criminal wrongdoing, yet she was thrown out of her home, and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office will get to keep the proceeds from the sale of her home and car if the government prevails. I coauthored a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Young.

The case underscores the important role our courts play in protecting private property and upholding constitutional protections. Ultimately, however, civil-forfeiture reform must come from the legislature. In October, the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on Senate Bill 869, aimed at assuring that no property is forfeited by a person who is not convicted of a crime. The time has come to enact this legislation.

|Louis S. Rulli, professor, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, lrulli@law.upenn.edu