Rotterdam confiscates expensive clothes from youth without cash

[Thumpalumpacus]

Sounds like horseshit to me ... g'bye presumption of innocence.

I believe presumption of innocence is not fundamental even in theory to the mainstream legal thinking outside the English common law tradition.  It is not reflected in practice in many circumstances in common law countries such as US.  Guantanamo certainly presumes guilt.

True enough. That doesn't mean it isn't a value worth holding, though ... and it's one I hold crucial to fair justice, m'self.

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This kind of thing happens in the US too. Its called civil asset forfeiture and it allows police to confiscate property if they believe it was acquired by illegal means. They don't have to prove anything and the owners often have to go to court to prove their innocence in order to get their property back.

I can understand somewhat taking the stuff (say bought from all the money they made illegally).   I don't think I realized they could do it, before any type of guilty verdict?

They can and do do so regularly. I've heard of a couple of cases which were reversed, but many if not most aren't even contested. The I-10 corridor between Houston and Mobile was (in)famous for local agencies beating this into the ground.

 

What do they do if they are not found guilty (or is that a whole separate process)?

Nothing, usually, unless a countersuit is launched and carried through successfully -- a very rare occurence.