Cops Took $7,000 Cash from Javier and Never Gave It Back (and the Same Thing Could Happen to You)

The federal government and most states use civil forfeiture to take cash, cars and more without charging owners with a crime. The proceeds often flow into accounts controlled by law enforcement, sometimes including the same police and prosecutors who seized and forfeited the property. Yet few Americans realize this legal process exists until they find themselves fighting for their own property. Now a first-of-its-kind study from the Institute for Justice (IJ) takes a detailed look at the victims of a law enforcement practice often called “policing for profit.” The new study, “Frustrating, Corrupt, Unfair: Civil Forfeiture in the Words of Its Victims,” surveys victims of Philadelphia’s forfeiture program, which raked in tens of millions for Philadelphia police and prosecutors. Thanks to a class action lawsuit IJ brought, the program was dismantled in 2018, and a $3 million compensation fund was created for more than 30,000 victims. The new study, co-authored