Civil forfeiture in the United States

Legal origins Civil forfeiture in the United States has a history dating back several hundred years, with roots in British maritime law. In the mid-1600s, when what would become the United States was a British colony, the British Navigation Acts were enacted. These laws required ships importing or exporting goods from British ports to fly the British flag; ships that failed to do this could be seized regardless of whether the ship's owner was guilty of any wrongdoing. Although states proceeded to curtail the powers of police to seize assets, actions by the Justice Department in July 2017 have sought to reinstate police seizure powers that simultaneously raise funding for federal agencies and local law enforcement. ==Legal background==

Civil vs criminal forfeiture Civil procedure cases generally involve disputes between two private citizens, often about money or property, while criminal procedure involves a dispute between a private citizen and the state, usually because a law has been broken. In legal systems based on English common law such as that of the United States, civil and criminal law cases are handled differently, with different tests and standards and procedures, and this is true of forfeiture proceedings as well. Both civil and criminal forfeiture involve the taking of assets by police. In civil forfeiture, assets are seized by police based on a suspicion of wrongdoing, and without having to charge a person with specific wrongdoing, with the case being between police and the thing itself, sometimes referred to by the Latin term in rem, meaning "against the property"; the property itself is the defendant and no criminal charge against the owner is needed. is whether police feel there is a preponderance of the evidence suggesting wrongdoing; in criminal forfeiture, the test is whether police feel the evidence is beyond a reasonable doubt, which is a tougher test to meet. The United States Supreme Court has upheld the principle of civil asset forfeiture at the federal level. In addition, there are more than 400 federal statutes that empower police to take assets from convicted criminals, as well as from persons not charged with criminality. Prevalence Although there are accessible statistics of seizures at the federal level, it often happens that the totals of forfeitures from both criminals and innocent owners are combined; for example, one report was that in 2010, government seized $2.5 billion in assets from criminals and innocent owners by forfeiture methods, ==Methods==

Civil forfeiture begins when government suspects that a property is connected with illegal drug activity, and files a civil action: but the seizure was contested by lawyers from the Institute for Justice. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has been seizing cash from passengers on domestic flights. Agents seized $209 million in cash from travelers at the 15 busiest airports from 2006 to 2016, according to an investigation by USA Today. Agents seized $82,373 from a passenger, transporting her father's life savings, while boarding a domestic flight, despite no indication of criminal activity or drug use or charges, leading to a lawsuit to get the funds returned. Seizures of real estate . Police can seize not only cash from cars but real estate such as a person's home. For example, homes have been seized even if someone other than the homeowner on the premises committed drug crimes without the owner's awareness. If the IRS suspects that property is involved with crime, or has been produced as a result of crime, then it has a pretext with which to seize it. From 2010 to 2013, two motel owners were under constant threat of their property being seized after there were incidents of drug selling on the motel premises. A judge ruled in 2013 that the owners could keep their motel since the owners did not know about the illegal activity and took all reasonable steps to prevent it. Police seized a house on the pretext that it was being used for selling drugs, after a couple's son was arrested for selling $40 worth of illegal drugs. In another case, homeowners Carl and Mary Shelden sold their house to a man who was later convicted of fraud, but because of the real estate transaction, the Sheldens got caught up in a 10-year legal battle that left them "virtually bankrupt"; after years, they finally got back their house but it was in badly damaged condition; the Sheldens had done nothing wrong. Seizures of vehicles In Detroit, men suspected of hiring prostitutes had their automobiles seized. An owner's sailboat was taken after he was caught with a negligible amount of marijuana. Members of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office were charged with fraud after knowingly selling counterfeit goods at an asset forfeiture auction.{{cite web |title=After Fraud Charges, Bergen Prosecutors Attempt Another Suspicious Auction Seizures of funds in a bank account The government can seize money directly from a bank account. One way this happens is when there are large numbers of cash deposits that government investigators suspect are structured as a way to avoid deposits exceeding $10,000, since deposits greater than that amount must be reported to the federal government. But it can happen that legitimate businesses have regular large deposits of cash. In one instance, the Internal Revenue Service waited for large deposits to be placed into an owner's bank account, and then forced the bank by legal means to surrender it to the agency by means of a secret warrant; authorities took $135,000 from Michigan restaurant owners, named the Cheung family, who made cash deposits from their Chinese restaurant. In another instance, a businessman in New Jersey made repeated cash deposits to save for purchasing a house; each payment was below the $10,000 threshold for reporting to the government, but there were 21 deposits over a period of four months, which caused government to suspect that criminal activity was involved; as a result, the IRS seized $157,000 and the businessman was forced to hire an attorney to get his funds returned. Officials seized $35,000 from the bank account of a grocery store "without any warning or explanation" in 2013. Contested seizures After police and authorities have possession of cash or other seized property, there are two ways in which the seized assets become permanently theirs: first, if a prosecutor can prove that seized assets were connected to criminal activity in a courtroom, or second, if nobody tries to claim the seized assets. What happens in many instances is that the assets revert to police ownership by default. If a victim challenges the seizure, prosecutors sometimes offer to return half of the seized funds as part of a deal in exchange for not suing. Sometimes police, challenged by lawyers or by victims, volunteer to return all of the money provided that the victim promises not to sue police or prosecutors; according to The Washington Post, many victims sign simply to get some or all of their money back. Victims often have "long legal struggles to get their money back". One estimate was that only one percent of federally taken property is ever returned to their former owners. ==Statistics==

Statistical evidence suggests a strong upward trend in recent years towards greater seizure activity. In 1986, the Department of Justice's Asset Forfeiture Fund took in $93.7 million; in 2008, it took in $1 billion. as compared to an estimated $4.7 billion Americans suffered as losses from criminal burglary. Federal authorities seized over $4 billion in 2013 through forfeiture, with some of the money being taken from innocent victims. In 2010, there were 15,000 cases of forfeitures. Over 12 years, agencies have taken $20 billion in cash, securities, other property from drug bosses and Wall Street tycoons as well as "ordinary Americans who have not committed crimes". One estimate was that in 85% of civil forfeiture instances, the property owner was never charged with a crime. In 2010, there were 11,000 noncriminal forfeiture cases. In 2010, claimants challenged 1,800 civil forfeiture seizures in federal court. ==States==

Proponents special agent Douglas Leff argues that civil forfeiture is a necessary tool for law enforcement to combat money laundering by criminal operatives. Proponents argue that civil forfeiture tactics are necessary to help police fight serious crime. Reporter Sarah Stillman writing in The New Yorker interviewed numerous police officers, lawyers, prosecutors, justices and plaintiffs around the United States and found that many had reservations that innocent Americans were being abused. Sometimes victims turn to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for legal assistance in winning back their seized property. As civil forfeiture may not be allowed, a new practice has emerged: By classifying valuables such as cars, cellphones, and wallets with cash as evidence, the police can keep them and make it very difficult and time consuming to get them back. The police can sell the items after 120 days. Marijuana legalization and forfeiture The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been using civil forfeiture as one way of funding their efforts to combat the use of illegal drugs, including marijuana, which continues to be illegal to possess under Federal law as of 2019. According to government figures, the DEA collected $18 million in 2013 as part of its Cannabis Eradication Program. There have been occasions where police involved in a traffic stop claim they smell marijuana in order to get probable cause to search a vehicle without a warrant and start civil forfeiture proceedings. Proponents in favor of legalizing marijuana have objected to this practice, which includes DEA seizures of properties in which marijuana is used and sold. A bill has been proposed in the United States Congress to eliminate this source of funding. As more states progress towards legalizing marijuana for medical use and for recreational use, there are more businesses to sell marijuana, sometimes called dispensaries or "weed shops". A report in The Guardian in 2015 suggested that such shops operated in a "tricky gray zone", so that even in the 23 states where medicinal cannabis is legal, such dispensaries can be "wiped out by a single visit from law enforcement". While state law may recognize such establishments as having a legal purpose, federal law does not recognize this, and conflicting interpretations can emerge, which can result in properties being confiscated. It has sparked controversy and, in some instances, public outrage. ==See also==