Property rights are among the fundamental elements of a free society and a free economy. Since 1984, CEI has defended these principles by opposing public policies that sound great, do little, and ultimately harm the common good.
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
Blog
This Week’s Civil Forfeiture Outrages: Do People Facing Forfeiture Get Due Process?
A high-profile reversal of a recent civil forfeiture case makes me wonder: Do those who face civil forfeiture generally receive due process of law? That…
News Release
Report: Government Seizes Billions in Private Property, but Citizens Have Little Recourse
Every year, federal, state, and local government agents take and permanently keep, collectively, billions of dollars of Americans’ property through a practice called civil forfeiture,…
Blog
Countering Civil Forfeiture Myths with Facts
Every year, federal, state, and local government agents take—and permanently keep—billions of dollars of Americans’ property through civil forfeiture. The practice of civil forfeiture creates…
Search Posts
Blog
Energy Dominance: Department of Interior Breaks Previous Records for Oil and Gas Lease Sales
“In a testament to the Trump Administration's America First Energy Plan, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) third-quarter oil and gas lease sale in New…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing Environmental Protection Agency Veto Power over Development Projects
In 2013, organizations from coast-to-coast called on then-U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy to reject an unprecedented decision on Pebble Mine and warned…
Blog
Reform Endangered Species Act to Contain Costs
The Endangered Species Act (ESA), passed in 1973, has had several decades to accumulate a record of costs and benefits. Despite bureaucrats and activists…
Blog
Claim that 99% of Species Are Saved by ESA Not Supported by Data
An urgent fundraising appeal from The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) “Global Policy Lead[er]” warns of congressional and administration efforts to change—and from the perspective of many—improve…
Blog
Hernando de Soto: How To Make the Third World Richer than the First
Our good friend Nick Gillespie interviews Peruvian economist and property rights activist Hernando de Soto about the future of prosperity in the developing world, and…
Blog
Four Reasons the Endangered Species Act Desperately Needs Reform
The Department of Interior recently announced proposed revisions to enforcement of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). These revisions are designed to lessen the regulatory…
