The presumption of guilt and an attack on due process

The Guardian:

[Home Secretary Jacqui] Smith defended plans to confiscate assets on arrest: “At the moment, we seize quite a large number of assets from drug dealers, but at the point of conviction. What sometimes happens between arrest and conviction is that these things can be salted away and disappear.

“I think taking them at the point of arrest is the right thing to do. Obviously, if somebody is completely innocent, then they can get their assets back.

‘Somebody’ is innocent in this country unless they have been convicted of a crime.

See also Transform’s blog.

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