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U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on June 29, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions' methodical dismantling of the Obama administration's criminal justice policies is rolling forward Wednesday as the Justice Department announces plans to step up efforts to seize property and money suspected of being used in crime or obtained through illegal activity.

Sessions will encourage a return to broader use of a controversial type of asset forfeiture where local officials pull the feds into an investigation in order to ease the process of seizing assets from criminal suspects. Critics complain that the practice reverses the typical presumptions in the legal process by allowing law enforcement to take property without proving a crime occurred.

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In many cases, suspects never challenge the seizure, but are also never convicted or even charged.

Sessions told a district attorneys conference in Minneapolis Monday: With care and professionalism, we plan to develop policies to increase forfeitures. No criminal should be allowed to keep the proceeds of their crime. Adoptive forfeitures are appropriate as is sharing with our partners."

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Former Attorney General Eric Holder essentially abandoned the forfeiture practice in 2015, amid complaints that it was prone to abuse and encouraged police and sheriff's departments to carry out seizures in order to win more funds to buy equipment and vehicles. Holder allowed a heavily restricted version of the program to resume last year.

The new effort appears intent on returning the forfeiture program to its former glory, although officials emphasized that Sessions is implementing new safeguards that will make it more difficult to conduct seizures of less than $10,000 and will require more information from local officials about the basis for a seizure when no criminal charges were filed.

While other high-profile aspects of the Obama's administration's criminal justice reform drivesuch as shorter sentences for drug convictsreceived a mixed reception on Capitol Hill, the effort to limit asset forfeiture enjoyed enthusiastic support from an ideologically diverse group of lawmakers. The practice has long been a bugaboo for libertarian and conservative activists who view it as a short-cut around the Constitution's requirement that guilt be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Indeed, some Republican lawmakers were among the first to express alarm in advance of Sessions announcement. Rep. Darrell Issa of California noted that many states have taken steps to rein in such seizures, often requiring that they be linked to a criminal conviction, but the federal move amounts to an end-run around those efforts.

This is a troubling decision for the due process protections afforded to us under the Fourth Amendment as well as the growing consensus weve seen nationwide on this issue, Issa said. Ramping up adoptive forfeitures would circumvent much of the progress state legislatures have made to curb forfeiture abuse and expand a loophole thats become a central point of contention nationwide. Criminals shouldnt be able to keep the proceeds of their crime, but innocent Americans shouldnt lose their right to due process, or their private property rights, in order to make that happen."

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While the issue has led to an unusual alliance between liberal Democrats and some staunch conservatives, the forfeiture practice has the enthusiastic backing of many local law enforcement officials, who see it as a vital lifeline for cash-strapped agencies. Those arguments have also found a receptive audience among some in Congress, particularly with those such as Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and former Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) who have been pressing for a more aggressive response to the opioid epidemic.

While forfeiture can take place in any kind of criminal investigation, the vast majority of the money and property seized through federal programs has stemmed from drug investigations and Sessions has said he is particularly eager to wield the tool against drug traffickers.

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Sessions to step up drug-war seizures - Politico