Police and prosecutors are using the same law that allows the IRS to seize thousands of dollars from innocent working Americans to confiscate thousands of dollars worth of property. In fact, citizens don’t even need to be arrested or charged with a crime for authorities to steal their belongings.
“Civil asset forfeiture,” as the New York Times describes it,
“allows the government, without ever securing a conviction or filing a criminal charge, to seize property suspected of having ties to crime.”
Often, these “forfeitures” are sold, with proceeds going in part to local police forces. The scope of this practice expanded with the Drug War in the 1980s and in 2012 alone, $4.3 billion worth of assets was confiscated. This was a huge uptick from 2001, which saw $401 million taken by the state.
