The main principle behind civil asset forfeiture reform legislation introduced in both chambers of the Pennsylvania General Assembly is widely embraced by voters in the Commonwealth, according to a survey released on Thursday. The legislation would require a criminal conviction before property can be forfeited to the state. Currently, a property owner does not even have to be charged with a crime before their property can subject to forfeiture.

Much of the efforts to reform the justice system have been concentrated on front-end sentencing and back-end reentry reform. When it comes to sentencing reform, the idea is that a punishment should fit the crime. Rather than lengthy sentences mandated by big government politicians that ostensibly warehouse low-level, nonviolent offenders, judges should have the option to more appropriate sentences, including diversion programs. For offenders already in the prison system, rehabilitative programming -- such as work training and education -- would provide them with the means to learn skills so they can live productive, honest lives after they return to society.

Sen. Bernie Sanders has excited the Democratic Party's base with promises of more "free" stuff and emerged from relative obscurity as a legitimate threat to Hillary Clinton, once thought to be the frontrunner for the party's presidential nomination. But the policy agenda the self-identified "democratic socialist" is espousing to fawning audiences on the campaign trail is one that would create severe economic problems for the United States.

Pennsylvania has one of the worst civil asset forfeiture laws in the country, in the country, but a recently introduced reform proposal would protect innocent people from this form of government overreach. Prosecutors in the Commonwealth are, however, aggressively trying to defend the pernicious practice, which is often used to go after property of law-abiding citizens.

This afternoon, Pennsylvania state Rep. Jim Cox (R-Sinking Spring) introduced HB 508, a bill that would offer protections for innocent property owners and restore due process in the Commonwealth. FreedomWorks strongly supports HB 508 and its companion bill in the Senate, SB 869, which was introduced earlier in June.

Pennsylvania’s long-awaited, all-encompassing civil asset forfeiture reform bill was introduced in the Senate in bipartisan fashion. Just before the bill was introduced, the Commonwealth's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union released a shocking study detailing the abuse of civil asset forfeiture by overzealous law enforcement and prosecutors in Philadelphia.

Christo Sourovelis was surprised, in May 2014, to find out that his 22-year-old son, Yanni, was selling $40 worth of drugs out of the family's suburban Philadelphia home. His son, who had never been in trouble before, was arrested and sentenced to a diversion program because of his status as a first-time offender. One would think that justice was served, with the young offender learning a valuable lesson and, hopefully, spared from being caught up in the system.

Her status update caught my eye, but only because I'm used to seeing this friend write about her role in the latest play at the community theatre, or post about something hilarious one of her kids said.  She doesn't post much of anything political, and I can't remember ever seeing her complain.  But this post was different. Kelly had just received a new premium quote to cover her family, which includes her husband and their five children. 

In order to get young people to buy the Obamcare Exchange health insurance plans, the Obama Administration dictated to insurance companies a new deadline of December 24, Christmas Eve, for policies to be effective January 1. At the same time, over the weekend the President went through a botched PR rollout of his own, enrolling in the DC Exchange. These games will continue, and probably become worse, once the law is in full effect next week.