civil law

if police suspect that you committed a crimethey can arrest you and put you on trial. at that trial prosecutors must prove you'reguilty beyond a reasonable doubt. but if police suspect that your car was involved in acrime, they can take it, sell it, and in most places pocket the proceedsto pad their budgets. they need not prove you committed any crimeor even arrest you to take your property away. welcome to the upside-down world of civilasset forfeiture. with civil forfeiture your property is guiltyuntil you prove it innocent to get it back,

and because most state and federal laws allowpolice and prosecutors to pocket the proceeds, they have a big incentive to pursue profits, not justice. how big? in 1986 the justice department'sforfeiture fund took in 94 million dollars. now it has more than a billion. state and local agencies receive forfeiture funds, too, but we don't know how much because most statesdon't publicly report on forfeiture. no surprise abuse is rampant.

one new york police department spent forfeiture fundson food, gifts and entertainment. in georgia, forfeiture funds paid for football ticketsfor a da's office, and the da in texas used forfeiture dollars to buy tv ads for his re-electioncampaign. meanwhile citizens are seeing cash, cars, and other property taken away for theflimsiest of reasons. carrying too much cash? police can accuse you of selling drugs orlaundering money and seize it. no conviction or even arrest required. an institutefor justice study graded state laws on how

well they protect people from wrongful forfeitures. only 3 states received a b or better. the rest range from mediocre to awful and so does federal law. worse the federal legal loophole allows policeand prosecutors to bypass state protection and keep pocketing forfeiture money. ij's research shows that the easier and more profitablethese laws make forfeiture, the more it is used and abused. it's time to end civil forfeiture

people shouldn't have their property takenaway without being convicted of a crime, and law enforcement shouldn't be policing forprofit.