I could not have been more surprised and then angry when I read this in a New York Times article: Lawbreakers are rarely forced to give up the proceeds of their crimes.
Could that possibly be true? You mean our wonderful government agencies do not work hard to retrieve all the ill gotten gains of criminals? Considering how many crooks American society generates and our present economic meltdown, this practice should disturb everyone.
How much money could we be talking about? Current estimates are that every year US criminals amass hundreds of billions of dollars in cash and goods from illegal activities, including: mortgage fraud, extortion, cyber crimes, embezzlement, illegal gambling, bank fraud, public corruption, human trafficking, counterfeiting, identity theft, securities violations, insurance fraud, intellectual property piracy and bankruptcy fraud. Of course drug trafficking is a major money generator, perhaps totaling from $18 billion to as much as $64 billion a year. And then there is Medicare fraud, where profits are from $35 billion to more than $70 billion a year. Last month, a panel of security experts told a US Senate Commerce Committee that revenues from cyber crime now exceed those of drugs crime, and are worth some $1 trillion annually. Smart unemployed people are likely turning increasingly to all kinds of criminal activities.
How much is seized by federal, state and local governments? Probably no more than perhaps a few billion dollars annually are collected.
This is shocking!
Though convicted criminals may end up behind bars, their profits gather interest in bank and securities accounts, or may hold their value or become more valuable when invested in real estate, cars, aircraft, yachts, art, jewelry, racehorses and countless other assets.
It is not just that governments could increase revenues if they aggressively pursued the wealth of criminals. Many billions of dollars could be used to compensate victims or finance law enforcement so that more criminals are identified, prosecuted and convicted so that future crimes are curtailed.
Do not for a moment think that somehow government agencies lack the tools to take the money amassed by criminals. To the contrary, consider that the very first Congress, in 1789, authorized the federal government to seize criminal assets. Incredibly, some 200 federal criminal and drug control laws include provisions for asset forfeiture. And the 50 states and the all have their own forfeiture provisions. So there is no legal excuse for governments not going after the many billions of dollars yearly that criminals have stolen.
Government agencies simply do not use the legal tools available to them. Are they lazy? Are they stupid? Are they just incompetent? Probably a little of all these may explain their behavior. Or it is an institutional culture or bureaucratic screw-up that must be focused on and corrected.
It is not enough to put criminals in prison. We the people must judge government officials by their determination to find and retrieve the wealth that criminals have obtained from their illegal activities.
There also is a need to expand laws so that criminals cannot hide their wealth before they finish the trial and sentencing activities that can go on for long periods. All too often, dirty money disappears into shell companies and impenetrable offshore havens before the trial even begins. So, very fast action is necessary as soon as criminals enter the justice system. Government agencies must have the legal powers necessary to freeze assets until all criminal charges are resolved.
The proverbial bottom line is that myriad crooks in the are stealing money from millions of Americans and, even if convicted, all those billions of dollars yearly are not going where they should, either to the government or victims. True justice requires all of us to demand more of our local, state and federal agencies. Otherwise, all kinds of criminals are getting away with financial murder. When criminals profit from their nefarious activities we all pay a high price. When they get away with this we have nothing more than delusional justice. Imprisonment is necessary but not sufficient.
Joel S. Hirschhorn has succeeded as: a full professor, University of Wisconsin, Madison; a senior staffer, U.S. Congress (Office of Technology Assessment); head of an environmental consulting company; Director of Environment, Energy and Natural Resources, National Governors Association; now an author and consultant. Recent books are: Sprawl Kills - How Blandburbs Steal Your Time, Health and Money, and Delusional Democracy - Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government. He has published hundreds of articles in newspapers, magazines, journals and on many web magazine sites. He has given hundreds of talks at a wide range of conferences worldwide. He focuses on American culture, politics and government, and health issues.
Bounty hunters collect goodly amounts from bond 'n' bail agencies for apprehending individuals who have taken a powder. Maybe we need a state-level system that'll pay a sizable percentage to Financial Bounty Hunters for locating and putting a freeze on assets. The payoff could be better than many state lottery's.
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