Maine has become the fourth state to abolish civil forfeiture.
The sponsor of the proposal, Republican Representative Bill Bob Faulkingham, says civil forfeiture allowed law enforcement to seize a person's property before they were charged with a crime. The original intent of the law, he says, was to target drug traffickers. But according to the non-profit libertarian law firm, Institute for Justice, the average amount of a civil forfeiture in Maine is about $1600.
"The people who end up being the victims of civil forfeiture end up just being poor people," Faulkingham says.
Under the new law, law enforcement can only seize property after a criminal conviction, with limited exceptions. The proposal had bipartisan support in the legislature. The ACLU of Maine supports the law, saying it ends a "civil liberties nightmare."
