CRIME WITH A PRICE TAG

Don't Do The Crime If You Can't Do The Time - Or Afford To
Pay Up As Well

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time - or in the case of
Canada's proceeds-of-crime legislation - pay through the nose.

An Ontario court ruling has concluded there is nothing
unconstitutional in the law requiring drug dealers to forfeit profits
they've made from crime or to pay fines if those profits have
disappeared.

The judge said, that in his opinion, "reasonable, informed and
fair-minded Canadians would not be offended by a cocaine trafficker
being deprived through forfeiture of the cocaine, or the money
obtained in payment for the cocaine."

An Ontario lawyer launched the constitutional challenge, arguing that
the state didn't take into account an offender's level of involvement
in a crime. The law could catch an offender, for example, who had no
control over where the proceeds of crime went. In addition, he argued
the law lets the state seek multiple forfeiture orders for a number of
offenders within a chain of illegal activity. Five co-accused could
each be made to forfeit the same proceeds of crime, or a fine in lieu
of the proceeds. There is no mechanism for calculating the net benefit
to a particular accused.

Under the federal law, police trace and seize criminal assets in cases
involving drugs, smuggling, fraud, gambling and terrorism. The
proceeds are forfeited to government through the courts.

The judge ruled that fines in lieu of forfeiture are meant to be just
that - punishment.

The lesson for dealers and cohorts hoping to make big bucks through
their criminal activity is simple: You're going to lose the money if
you do get caught. And if you can't pay it back, you're going to go to
jail for even longer.