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> People are cheering at Canada forfeiting bank accounts. When such policies are normalized we can expect much more of this. Completely untrue. Civil forfeitur
by Permit 5y ago
> People are cheering at Canada forfeiting bank accounts. When such policies are normalized we can expect much more of this.
Completely untrue. Civil forfeiture is a uniquely American experience. The Emergencies Act will not lead to broad civil forfeiture in Canada. That is, the Prime Minister of Canada freezing bank accounts will not grant Canadian police officers the ability to seize your assets indefinitely without trial.
It is rhetorically convenient to try to link freezing a bank account to civil forfeiture, but they are not the same thing.
- kodah 5y agoCivil Forfeiture money can be returned. It usually goes into some kind of escrow system. It is very much like freezing a bank account in outcome because it denies the accused the financial ability to defend themselves or to defend themselves at their own detriment. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_Unit... While I focused on the outcome above, I think both violate the "presumption of innocence" attitude that our legal system is supposed to be built around. Edit I don't watch the news, so I didn't know what's happening in Canada. Here's some links: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-protests-frozen-bank-accounts-1.6355396 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-protests-frozen-bank... https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60383385 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60383385 This is fairly wild on every level.
- klyrs 5y agoIn the article, the victims were forced to sell assets, including a house, almost certainly at a loss, to satisfy the FBI's demands. Two years later, the money is returned. Do they get interest on that money? Did the money appreciate as quickly as the house would in Seattle's housing bubble? As far as I can tell, frozen bank accounts continue to accrue interest at their normal rate. The relative impacts are very different.
- kodah 5y agoCivil Forfeiture can cover anything including a house. That's one of the very legitimate criticisms of it. In this story, money was taken and they had to sell their house to cover legal and living expenses. If you freeze assets the same thing can, and commonly does, happen. Civil Forfeiture is definitely awful, but so is freezing someones assets is my point.