Civil asset forfeiture enables law enforcement to take the property of individuals they suspect are involved in criminal activity. The practice is easily and regularly abused. Over the past decade, Michigan policymakers responded by significantly changing the state’s forfeiture laws. These changes resulted in fewer forfeitures overall and reduced efforts by law enforcement to take assets from people who were never charged with a crime. The law now requires the government to obtain a criminal conviction in some cases before an individual’s property can be forfeited. But hundreds of people in Michigan still lose their property every year without being convicted of breaking the law.
The way to protect individuals’ civil and property rights — even for those accused of criminal behavior — is to end civil forfeiture altogether. Four states — North Carolina, New Mexico, Nebraska and Maine — have done this.[1] Abolishing civil forfeiture would not allow criminals to keep money and property they gained illegally. Law enforcement could still seize such property, but only a criminal court could decide whether the property would be forfeited to the government permanently. This would ensure that the civil rights protections afforded individuals in the criminal court system apply in forfeiture cases as well.