Uncovering the Truth: Is Civil Forfeiture Justified or a Legal Myth?

Each year, government agents at the federal, state, and local levels seize billions of dollars worth of property from American citizens through civil forfeiture, which allows for permanent confiscation without conviction. This practice has become deeply entrenched in the nation’s political and economic systems, providing significant advantages to certain interest groups within the government, including policy makers, police officers, and prosecutors.

By seizing property, civil forfeiture reduces the burden of taxes that policy makers would otherwise have to impose and generates funds for public safety budgets that law enforcement officials would otherwise have to secure through legislative appropriations but is this longstanding and often used legal tool based on the law, or nothing more than legal myth? For more information, Lars speaks with Dan Greenberg, the General Counsel for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and author of their new report, Five Myths of Civil Forfeiture.