Under state and federal laws, officials can seize a person’s property merely on the accusation that it might have somehow been involved in a crime. Most often, the police seize cash, alleging that it was obtained through drug trafficking. Then, it’s up to the individual to go to court to get the property back. That’s something that poor people can’t always manage and in that case the “forfeited” property goes into the government’s coffers. The cops bolster their budget without ever proving that the individual actually did anything illegal.
In this Reason story, we read about such a case. Two sisters who wanted to open a dog breeding business had $17,000 seized by police in California. Fortunately, their plight came to the attention of the Goldwater Institute, whose legal team went to bat for the two and managed to get the money back.
Civil-asset-forfeiture laws are rife with abuse. Officials get to seize property (cash, cars, even real estate) without due process of law and they suffer no penalty in those instances where the individual succeeds in persuading a judge of his innocence and the property is returned.
Civil-asset-forfeiture laws should be repealed.