Newsgroups: pof.pittsburgh.press.presumed.guilty
Path: pofbbs!doctor1
From: [doctor 1] at [pofbbs.chi.il.us] (Patrick B. Hailey)
Subject: Introduction
Message-ID: <[C F HF 0 G AE] at [pofbbs.chi.il.us]>
Organization: pofbbs - The Politics of Freedom BBS, Joliet, IL
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1993 02:02:38 GMT

PRESUMED GUILTY

Reprinted by permission from the 'Pittsburgh Press'
Copyright, 1991, The Pittsburgh Press Co.
By Andrew Schneider and Mary Pat Flaherty
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THE LAW'S VICTIMS IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

  It's a strange twist of justice in the land of freedom. A law designed to
give cops the right to confiscate and keep the luxurious possessions of major
drug dealers mostly ensnares the modest homes, cars and cash of ordinary,
law-abiding people. They step off a plane or answer their front door and
suddenly lose everything they've worked for. They are not arrested or tried for
any crime. But there is punishment, and it's severe.

  This six-day series chronicles a frightening turn in the war on drugs. Ten
months of research across the country reveals that seizure and forfeiture, the
legal weapons meant to eradicate the enemy, have done enormous collateral
damage to the innocent.  The reporters reviewed 25,000 seizures made by the
Drug Enforcement Administration. They interviewed 1,600 prosecutors, defense
lawyers, cops, federal agents and victims. They examined court documents from
510 cases. What they found defines a new standard of justice in America: You
are presumed guilty.