Justice For All - Feb 2015

The federal government and many state governments have slowly been moving away from mandatory minimum sentence for nonviolent offenders. Many of these reforms have been tremendously helpful. But more reforms are necessary to keep big government out of the courtroom.

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held an important, long overdue hearing on federal civil asset forfeiture laws and the need for reform to curtail or end abuse by the Internal Revenue Service and federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.

It may sound counterintuitive, but two Republicans in the Illinois House of Representatives with law enforcement backgrounds are leading the charge for justice reform in the Land of Lincoln, guiding legislation through the chamber that will give nonviolent offenders an opportunity to change the direction of their lives.

Russ Caswell was the owner of Motel Caswell for over two decades. His father built the motel in 1955, and it was family-owned and ran for over 50 years.

Innocent Virginia residents are still at risk of having their property wrongfully taken through civil asset forfeiture after the Virginia Senate, on Wednesday, tabled a common sense bill that would have required a criminal conviction property believed to be connected to a crime could be forfeited to the government.

A bipartisan reform bill to protect innocent Montana property owners is slowly working its way through the state legislature, but time is running out for lawmakers to send it to the governor's desk.

On Wednesday, the Virginia General Assembly will meet in Richmond for its annual veto session, in which lawmakers will weigh nearly 70 pieces of legislation vetoed or amended by the Governor. Among the bills that will be considered is SB 721, to which an amendment has been offered to require a criminal conviction before the government can take property believed to be used in an illicit activity.

The punishment should fit the crime. A simple maxim that is no longer always followed in this country. For too long many nonviolent criminals have had sentences imposed on them from Washington, overriding the presiding judge's assessment of the facts. When punishments are mandated from afar, the punishment will not always fit the crime. It is time to get big government out of the courtroom and restore the judiciary's role as outlined in the Constitution.

Carole Hinders is an Iowa restauranteur who, in 2013, made several bank deposits under $10,000. She thought she was doing everyone a favor by keeping her transactions under $10,000, but this harmless activity caught the attention of the Internal Revenue Service.

As the second hand ticked closer to noon, the statutory deadline to take action on measures passed by the New Mexico Legislature, Gov. Susana Martinez signed a comprehensive bill to protect the property of innocent individuals by ending civil asset forfeiture in the Land of Enchantment.