Imagine this. You’re sitting in your backyard, enjoying the beautiful sunset after a long day of work. Suddenly, you hear a knock on the door. You shuffle inside and head towards it.
When you’re halfway there, you hear another knock, this time louder and accompanied by a shout:
“Police!”
Your thoughts nervously jump to your children and their father, who went out for an evening walk just a half hour before. With a shaky hand, you reach for the doorknob and pull the door open, bracing yourself for bad news.
But the police haven’t come to deliver bad news about your family. No, they’ve come to deliver a notice of civil forfeiture. Your car, which you worked long and hard for, is now property of the United States government.
You’re not charged with any crime. In fact, the police have little interest in you. They’ve come for your car and there’s nothing you can really do about it.
As perplexing as the scenario might be, it’s far from rare.
Millions of Americans have found themselves victim to the nation’s civil forfeiture laws, which allow police to seize property from its owners with no criminal charge or conviction.
How Civil Forfeiture Works
Image: RKL_Foto/Shutterstock
Essentially, when an asset is seized under civil forfeiture, police are charging the item with involvement in a crime, not the actual owner.
This leads to some pretty odd case names, such as “United States v. One Pearl Necklace” and “State of Texas v. $6,037.”
As funny as that might seem, it places American property owners in a tight spot where they must prove that their items were not involved in a crime.
Lyndon McLellan was one such property owner. The government mistakenly seized $107,000 from the bank account for his grocery business.
Federal agents told him he was on the hook for tax evasion due to a handful of allegedly suspicious transactions.
How Did This Become Legal?
Forfeiture really dug its roots in America during Prohibition, when police used the law to seize assets suspected of being used to make and transport alcohol. When Prohibition was lifted, forfeiture became infrequent.
But then the 1980s rolled around and the War On Drugs began. Rates of civil forfeiture began to rise. In 1984, the Comprehensive Crime Control Act was passed and it allowed law enforcement agencies to seize assets, sell them and funnel the money as needed.
Today, civil forfeiture brings in $2.5 billion for the federal government annually. That’s more than 26 times what it was in 1986, despite the fact that crime rates have dropped drastically since the 1980s.
According to one estimate, in 85% of civil forfeiture cases the property owner has no criminal record.
Could You Be Next?
Not if the Institute For Justice can help it. Founded in 1991, they work to represent property owners all across the U.S. and stop civil forfeiture practices against innocent people.
You can support them by donating and spreading the word about their cause.
Civil forfeiture laws are just one example of a lack of U.S. government oversight.
Check out this post to learn about questionable practices of the FDA.
Sources:
Institute For Justice
Washington Post
The Atlantic
Forbes
Comprehensive Crime Control Act
New York Times
New Yorker
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