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Last updated on Wednesday, October 24, 2018
(INDIANAPOLIS) - On Thursday, October 25th, at 10:30 a.m., the Institute for Justice (IJ) will appear before the Indiana Supreme Court to ask the court to put an end to police and prosecutors’ keeping civil forfeiture proceeds for themselves instead of giving the money to the state’s schools as required by the state constitution.
The hearing will take place at the Indiana Supreme Court at the Indiana Statehouse at 200 W. Washington Street in Indianapolis.
Participating will be Sam Gedge, Attorney, Institute for Justice and Wesley Hottot, Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice.
The Indiana Constitution clearly states that "all forfeitures" must go to the common school fund, which supports public schools in Indiana. Yet Indiana's Civil Forfeiture Statute sends 90 percent of civil forfeiture revenue, not to the school fund but to police and prosecutors. In Indianapolis, hundreds of thousands of dollars in forfeiture revenue are diverted in this way every year, fueling aggressive forfeiture practices in Indiana's capital city.
A group of Indiana taxpayers joined with IJ, in February 2016, to put a stop to this. But in March 2018, a Marion Superior Court judge ruled that police and prosecutors can keep civil-forfeiture revenue for themselves, reasoning that "all forfeitures" does not include civil forfeitures. Now, IJ will ask the Indiana Supreme Court to reverse this ruling and give effect to the plain terms of the state constitution.
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