What the President Should Do: Civil Asset Forfeiture

As President Obama counts down the days of his last year in office, one positive step he could take for his legacy would be to halt the federal government's use of civil asset forfeiture and make the suspension of the equitable sharing program permanent.   

Civil asset forfeiture, which allows the government to seize your cash and property without ever charging you with a crime, is rife with abuse and violates many cherished principles such as due process, separation of powers, federalism, and private property rights.  The predatory practice has become so prevalent that in 2014, for the first time on record, law enforcement officers took more money from Americans under federal forfeiture law than burglars stole from their victims.  More than $5 billion was deposited into the Treasury Department and Justice Department forfeiture funds, and that astonishing figure doesn't include seizures that were purely state-based.

Further compounding the abusive nature of civil forfeiture is the federal government's equitable sharing program, which allows state and local cops in states with restrictive forfeiture laws (or none at all) to circumvent their state laws and seize property under more-permissive federal law in exchange for an 80% kickback of the proceeds.  The Department of Justice recently suspended the equitable sharing program, citing a budget shortfall, but it's clear from the suspension statement that the Justice Department plans to restart the program in the future.

Civil asset forfeiture creates an inappropriate profit motive for predatory policing, it distorts the priorities of law enforcement, and it tramples our constitutional principles.  President Obama should take the time to end these practices before he leaves office.

For more information about civil asset forfeiture, check out our civil forfeiture explainer on PoliceMisconduct.net.

And for an updated version of the Institute for Justice's fantastic national survey of civil forfeiture practices, check out Policing for Profit, 2nd Edition.