Under civil forfeiture laws, police and prosecutors can seize cash, cars, homes and other property on the mere suspicion that it is connected to criminal activity.
“Forfeiture is an attractive way to keep revenue streams flowing when budgets are tight.”
Recent years have brought public scrutiny on a controversial law enforcement practice known as civil asset forfeiture, which lets police seize and keep cash and property from people who are never convicted -- and in many cases,
Charles Clarke says he is a smoker, not a dealer, but it may not matter.
When he visited relatives in Cincinnati the winter before last, Charles Clarke, a 24-year-old college student, took with him $11,000 that he had saved from wages, financial aid, and family gifts because he did not want to lose it. He did not count on the armed robbers at the airport, who took every last cent as he was about to board a flight back
Law enforcement can seize property if they suspect it has been involved in a crime. Slowly, though, the ease with which this can be done is changing.
The rights afforded to people by the U.S. Constitution do not extend to their property. This means that when a law enforcement official suspects that someone’s property -- including his or her car, money, home or gun -- was involved in a crime, the official can seize that property and keep it. When this happens, there’s next to nothing that
