Why Civil Asset Forfeitures Need To End — And Soon Could

The bedrock of our justice system is that you are innocent until proven guilty. This episode of What’s Ahead shines a spotlight on a glaring and abusive exception: a law-enforcement procedure called civil asset forfeiture.

Under this approach your property—cash, car, jewelry and, even, real estate—can be seized without due process. You don’t have to convicted of a crime or even charged with wrongdoing for your property to be seized. Officers can just declare that they suspect the property in question was used in the commission of a crime or was obtained illegally. Voila! What you had is no longer yours. Getting your property back is extremely difficult and expensive, as the police agency that took it is both judge and jury. All too many law enforcement agencies have routinely used civil asset forfeiture to supplement their budgets.

Fortunately, a bipartisan congressional bill entitled the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act (FAIR) has been introduced, which will curb this unfair, perverse procedure. The FAIR Act deserves immediate passage.