Federal Asset Forfeiture

The Government is seizing billions of dollars of cash and property from Americans, often without charging them with a crime. With origins in medieval law, civil asset forfeiture is premised on the legal fiction that inanimate objects bear moral culpability when used for wrongdoing. The practice regained prominence as a weapon in the modern drug war as law enforcement sought to disrupt criminal organizations by seizing the cash that sustains them. The practice, however, has proven a far greater affront to civil rights than it has been as a weapon against crime. While forfeitures have received increased attention in recent months, they are still poorly understood. After property is seized, its owner will usually have the option of challenging the seizure judicially with the Federal court system or administratively with the seizing agency itself. Seizures that are not challenged within 30 days of receiving notice are automatically forfeited. A majority of Federal civil forfeitures are never contested largely because of the high cost of retaining counsel, which often exceeds the value of the property itself.