PROPERTY RIGHTS HAVE BEEN LOST

Mass confiscation has become politically fashionable. Politicians and the
courts have created an overwhelming presumption in favor of the
government's right to seize control over private land, private homes,
boats, cars and even the cash in people's wallets. While the dispute over
property rights is often portrayed as merely an economic contest, the power
of government officials to seize private property directly subjugates
citizens to the capricious will of those officials. Once upon a time,
possession was nine-tenths of the law. Nowadays, gossip is sometimes
nine-tenths of possession.

Thousands of American citizens are being stripped of their property on the
basis of rumors and unsubstantiated assertions made by the government's
confidential informants. The Justice Department's 1992 annual report on
asset seizures declared, "no property may be seized unless the government
has probable cause to believe that it is subject to forfeiture."

In reality, government officials are seizing people's property based solely
on "hearsay" -- rumors and gossip -- from anonymous informants. (Hearsay
evidence is held in such low esteem in the American judicial system that it
cannot be introduced into criminal proceedings.)

Police routinely refuse to reveal their source of a rumor about the
forfeiture target. Some policemen have likely invented anonymous informants
to give them a pretext to take what they covet. Everybody needs a good
attorney.

Deanna Winters

Harrisburg