Individuals and groups across the political spectrum have opposed this abuse—and one driver of this broad opposition is growing evidence that civil asset forfeiture is not used primarily to fight crime but to pad the budgets of law-enforcement agencies.13 Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recently questioned the constitutionality of the practice.14 Federal law-enforcement agencies such as FBI,. [...] Up to 80% of the proceeds can then be kicked back to the agencies that seized the property.15 In 2014, the Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund showed more than $4.4 billion in state deposits.16 Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder, effectively halted ESP in 2015, limiting federal adoptions of state/ local agency forfeitures to “property that directly relates to public safety concerns, in. [...] Criminal justice reform Congress and the president should tie the perpetuation of some of the First Step Act’s key provisions to concrete measures of success. [...] In particular, the administration should push for an amendment to the law that would require the timely publication of data that would allow the public to assess: • The actual predictiveness of the act’s Risk and Needs Assessment System to determine the risk level of prisoners with respect to recidivism, as well as serious or violent misconduct while incarcerated; and • The effectiveness of prison. [...] Among them: accelerating the pace of recovery from the pandemic, helping to get schools reopened and students back on track, and restoring safety to the many American cities afflicted by unrest and rising violence.
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