Civil forfeiture has become a significant government intrusion in recent years. While it remains a viable instrument for federal agents enforcing customs laws and fighting international crime, misguided policies and misaligned incentives foster abuses and raise grave constitutional concerns.
Each year, federal and state forfeiture programs allow law enforcement to seize more than $3 billion in cash and property from thousands of people – often without ever charging them with a crime. There are also serious questions as to whether civil courts using lower burdens of proof are the appropriate means to enforce government anti-crime policies.
Civil forfeiture further jeopardizes the relationship between police and their communities when vulnerable residents who cannot afford to challenge small-value seizures are targeted. There are also questionable benefits when financially-stressed departments prioritize revenue-generating forfeitures over arrests, drug interdiction, and crime-fighting.
CEI is addressing these issues through its new Forfeiture Reform Initiative: engaging federal and state policymakers to implement much-needed reforms and educating the public about their constitutional rights to stop improper seizures in the first place.
No person should have to fear for their property while engaged in lawful activities or lose it without ever being convicted of a crime.
Featured Posts
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Some thoughts on Constitution Day
As I drove into work today, it occurred to me: we so often take for granted the extraordinary power that the automobile gives us. Once…
Fox News
Federal judge rules that 156-year-old ban on at-home distilling is unconstitutional
Fox News cites CEI’s Devin Watkins and Dan Greenberg on Hobby Distillers Association v. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau et al: Devin Watkins,…
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Sunshine in Wyoming’s civil forfeiture
Transparency in civil forfeiture took a small step forward last week when the Wyoming Liberty Group published its latest report. One difficulty in writing about…
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Dodd-Frank Violates Separation of Powers and Constitutional Checks and Balances
In a recent edition of the Washington Post, former White House counsel C. Boyden Gray noted that the sweeping Dodd-Frank financial “reform” law passed…
Citation
If At First You Don’t Succeed. . .
Op-Eds
Financial Stability Council Violates the Constitution (Letter to the Editor)
C. Boyden Gray’s Dec. 31 Washington Forum commentary, “Wall Street reform that flouts the law,” rightly criticized the secrecy, unchecked bureaucratic power and constitutional…
Study
Restore the Constitutional Right to Property
Full Document Available in PDF The right to property is an essential part of a free society, and widespread private property ownership…
One News Now
High court turns deaf ear to jilted business owners
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Live Blogging: “Fixing The World Economy: Stresses And Solutions”
This is a Live Blog of a Thomson Reuters Event on “Fixing the World Economy.” The speakers are Dominique Strauss-Kahn, International Monetary Fund and Chrystia…
Blog
Interchange Price Controls: Gift to Big Merchants, Lump of Coal for Consumers and Community Financial Institutions
On Thursday, the Federal Reserve — at the direction of Congress in the Durbin Amendment to the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” bill — will give…
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Supreme Court will not Hear Columbia University Eminent Domain Case
It was announced today that the U.S. Supreme Court will not take up a challenge to the Empire State Development Corporation’s property takings in…
One News Now
Wal-Mart Case Bigger Than Company
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New Fast Food Restaurants Banned in South Los Angeles
New fast-food restaurants are now banned in South Los Angeles. Say goodbye to many entry-level jobs in that poor urban area. The cockamamie idea behind this ban is…
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Seattle Land-Use Regulation Liberalization Redux
Stephen Smith of Market Urbanism responds to my response to his question, asking if I thought Seattle’s proposed land-use liberalization bill was a…
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Seattle Land Use Liberalization Bill Fails to Address Key Problems
Stephen Smith of Market Urbanism asked me what I thought of proposed legislation in Seattle that would remove some restrictions on land use…
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Real Estate Development and Generation Y
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I came across this article in Urban Land magazine, “Housing Gen Y: The Next Challenge for Cities,” by John McIlwain. In…
Blog
How Property Rights Saved the Pilgrims After the First Thanksgiving
In Reason Magazine, Nick Gillespie and Meredith Bragg write about how the establishment of property rights among the pilgrims made them more “industrious” and…
Blog
Obama Includes Toyota, Hyundai and Kia in 75,000 Jobs “Created” by GM Bailout
This post was coauthored by CEI Research Associate Andrew Kwiatkowski As we write, President Obama and Vice President Biden are doing a victory lap…
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“Model” Foreign Aid Recipient Uses Foreign Aid to Repress Its Citizens
Ethiopia is considered a model recipient of foreign aid by international aid agencies, since it uses much of the aid on its people, rather than…
Blog
GM IPO Date Set for Tomorrow: What’s Good for New GM is Bad for the Rest of America
In his 1953 confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense in the incoming Eisenhower administration, former General Motors CEO Charles “Engine Charlie” Wilson was asked how…
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Milton Friedman on Other People’s Money
Milton Friedman always had a way with words. His brilliance in the following video not only explains the moral problem with using other people’s money,…
Blog
Smart Growth Decreases Housing Affordability
Wendell Cox had an interesting article this week on his new findings on land-use regulation and housing prices. Long a critic of smart-growth…
Blog
Many Republican Campaign Signs Disappear or are Stolen
Enraged Democrats in Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District attacked GOP activists and yanked signs for candidate Rob Hurt (R) off of private property. Hurt is…
Blog
Hugo Chavez Plans to Steal Golf Courses
I wrote recently how Hugo Chavez is stealing productive sectors of the Venezuela economy on its ‘Road to Serfdom.’ Now, Chavez has developed a…
Blog
Increase in American Corruption May Have Been Understated
Earlier, I wrote about how America had slipped to a historic low on the Global Corruption Index, becoming more corrupt. In retrospect, I think…
Blog
U.S. Slips to Historic Low in Global Corruption Index
America has slipped to a historic low in the global corruption index, Reuters reports, and it is no longer one of the 20 least…
Blog
“Rent Is Too Damn High” Candidate’s Rent is Actually Quite Low
Oh look, a politician building a campaign on the premise that he understands his constituents’ plight is actually…very far removed from the issues that are…
Blog
Rent Control: Why Is It So Bad?
When rent is “too damn high,” people move. Yet many cities still impose rotating rent controls, in a misguided attempt to make housing more…
Blog
Poker and Private Property in South Carolina
In South Carolina, the fate of five men has hung in the balance for the last four years. They crime they have been accused of…
Blog
Rent Is Too Damn High
Not much to add to this brilliant insight: The rent is too damn high! Jimmy McMillan doesn’t get into details about what he intends…
Blog
Building Height Restrictions: Where I Agree with Matthew Yglesias
Matthew Yglesias of the Center for American Progress links to a Washington Post article that notes that office rents in downtown D.C. are now…
Blog
Stop Coddling Mortgage Deadbeats
Right now, there’s a big manufactured outrage over the fact that at a few banks, paperwork errors occurred in foreclosures. The Wall Street Journal…
Newsletter
Central Planning, Stimulus and Tax Reform.
Chris Horner explains why the the "Livable Communities Act" is nothing more than a federal government power grab. Hans Bader argues against subsidizing waste. John…
Forbes
Hurricane Katrina, Houston And The Humanitarian Case Against Zoning
On a Monday morning in late August 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the…
Newsletter
Ethics in Congress, Urban Renewal and the Luxury of Environmentalism
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is facing ethics charges. Elected officials in Minneapolis and St. Paul try to lure suburban residents and shoppers back into the…
Newsletter
Elena Kagan, Five Years of Kelo and Offshore Oil Drilling
More details about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan come to light. Today is the 5-year anniversary of the landmark property rights decision in the case…
Daily Caller
Five Years After Kelo
Today marks the five-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s notorious Kelo v. New London decision. In a 5-4 ruling, the Court held that seizing…
Daily Caller
Dems Block Reform of Corrupt Mortgage Giants
In a party-line, 56-to-43 vote Tuesday, Senate Democrats blocked any reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the corrupt, government-backed mortgage giants…
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: March – April 2010
To view this issue of the CEI Planet, please click here to download the PDF file. Below are selected articles from the March-April…
Newsletter
Stevens’ Legal Legacy, Goldman Sachs and Internet Gambling
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is retiring. The SEC is charging Goldman Sachs with securities fraud. Opponents of internet gambling are circulating a memo…
Syracuse - Opinion
Property Rights: Eminent domain law gives developers unfair leverage
Syracuse - Opinion
Locksmith laws in Florida
Newsletter
National ID, Eminent Domain, and the EPA
Legislators are working on an immigration reform plan that includes a biometric identification card for all American workers. The mayor of Detroit plans to employ…
Detroit News
Avoid Land Grabs while Downsizing Detroit
If history is any guide, Mayor Dave Bing’s recent announcement that he intends to pursue aggressive central planning to shrink Detroit is bad news. For…
California Eminent Domain Report
An Interesting Argument Concerning Whether Eminent Domain for Economic Development Makes Economic Sense
Study
This Land Ain’t your Land; this Land Is my Land
A Primer on Eminent Domain, Redevelopment, and Entrepreneurship…
News Release
Land-Grabs Put Entrepreneurs, Poor in Dire Spot
Washington, D.C., March 3, 2010 – When government seizes land from private owners to serve a purpose preferred by bureaucrats and big business, it…
Newsletter
Child Support Disputes, NFL Claims “Who Dat?” and Anti-terrorism Police Drills
Virginia legislators vote down a bill which would have forced non-custodial parents to pay child support for their children through college.
News Release
Report Card for the Obama Administration
One year ago today, Barack Obama took the oath of office as President of the United States. Since then, he and his appointees have had…
California Eminent Domain Report
Senate Panel Approves David Michaels
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: September – October 2009
To view this issue of the CEI Planet, please click here to download the PDF file. Below are selected articles from the September-October 2009 issue: …
California Eminent Domain Report
CPSIA: WSJ Reactions
CEI Planet
CEI Planet: July – August 2009
The July-August 2009 issue of the CEI Planet features coverage of CEI’s 25th Anniversary Gala, and articles on federal catastrophe insurance and TARP transparency.
