Civil Rights Commission: Tennessee forfeiture proceedings should include counsel

The Tennessee Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has released its report on Tennessee civil forfeiture practices, to which the NCCRC gave extensive input.  The report observes that the lack of a right to counsel makes such proceedings "especially prone to abuse when the value of seized assets is low.”  The report recommends that the state “require that all property owners be afforded the right to court-appointed counsel in civil forfeiture cases where basic needs are at risk, such as shelter, sustenance, safety, health, transportation, or child custody”, and relies on testimony submitted by the NCCRC.