On Oct. 7, the Michigan Senate unanimously passed a package of bills to limit civil asset forfeiture and require more disclosure from police when property is seized.

The Mackinac Center has worked on the issue of civil asset forfeiture for years, and recently published a study with the ACLU of Michigan detailing its abuses.

In light of the Senate's recent vote, the Detroit Free Press published an article on the reforms and the work still to be done, quoting Mackinac Center Policy Analyst Jarrett Skorup:

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and Mackinac Center for Public Policy released a report last week calling for a ban against civil forfeiture, so a conviction would be required before assets could be taken.

Jarrett Skorup, a policy analyst at the Mackinac Center, applauded the progress in the new legislation, but warned that existing laws still allow the police agency doing the seizure to keep the assets, a term critics call "policing for profit."

"We see that as a big problem," Skorup said. "We see states that have eliminated civil asset forfeitures all together and that's our preference."

The full article is available at the Free Press website.

Other outlets covering the Senate vote and Mackinac Center research, include the Battle Creek Enquirer, Fox 17 and MLive.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.