A state watchdog concluded an office in the Georgia Department of Tax Revenue illegally kept $5 million in forfeiture funds and spent it partially on swag like sunglasses and engraved guns
A couple claims the Harris County Sheriff's Office in Texas seized their life savings two years ago on suspicion of drug trafficking. A new lawsuit says they're not the only ones.
The case is the latest example of people who say their savings were seized in airports, despite it being perfectly legal to fly domestically with large amounts of cash.
The commission says the legislature should raise the standard of proof and remove the financial incentive that encourages cops and prosecutors to pursue profit instead of public safety.
Canadian County Sheriff's deputies said Thai Nang's cash was drug money. He says he was buying land, and a local news outlet was easily able to find records backing his story up.
A new law will require a criminal conviction before property can be seized.
The bill would limit petty seizures and require more reporting and oversight of no-knock raids.
"It makes me feel like the government is preying on the vulnerable and the weak to line their own pockets."
The question of proportionality assumes that punishment is appropriate for peaceful conduct that violates no one's rights.
The case has generated three state supreme court decisions, plus a landmark ruling by the federal Supreme Court.
After eight years, Tyson Timbs finally gets to keep his Land Rover—once and for all.
In a lawsuit, attorneys for the box's owner allege that federal agents conducted an illegal search that may have resulted in the loss of some valuable gold coins.
A requirement that law enforcement obtain a conviction before it can forfeit property was stripped from the bill.
Cops laugh about “probable cause on four legs” but the damage to innocent lives is real.
The new law requires a criminal conviction prior to civil forfeiture and beefs up due process protections for property owners.
When officers searched Jermaine Sanders' car, they found less than half an ounce of marijuana and seized $17,000 of his money.
Even government officials can occasionally admit the need for limits to their thievery.
If the governor signs the bill into law, Arizona will become the 16th state to require a conviction for asset forfeiture.
"How can an ordinary person afford to wait years after the government takes their car?"
Arizona passed a law raising the standard of evidence for asset forfeiture. That didn't help Jerry Johnson when Phoenix police seized his cash.
Some states have taken action. It's time for the federal government to do the same.
After news investigations uncovered numerous allegations that cops in a small California town were robbing motorists of cash and weed, two former officers are now facing federal charges.
In Massachusetts, Malinda Harris argues, civil asset forfeiture routinely violates the right to due process.
Civil forfeiture reform failed last year. But now more legislators are on board.
Vague laws are typically vague for a reason.
A new study provides further evidence that property seizures are driven by financial motives rather than public safety concerns.
A misdemeanor marijuana charge leads to an attempt to take $17,000.
It went all the way to the US Supreme Court, and is now back in the Indiana state Supreme Court for the third time.
The state used civil asset forfeiture to seize Tyson Timbs' car in 2013. His nightmare hasn't ended.
A recent flurry of legislative activity suggests why forfeiture reform succeeds—and why it fails.
The practice is plainly unconstitutional.
Efforts to push for substantial police reforms many people would support instead became a political battlefield.
The Institute for Justice wants the Supreme Court to rule that the Fifth Amendment requires a prompt post-seizure hearing.
Government bullies empowered by civil forfeiture laws often back down, but only when their victims can afford a fight.
The DEA dropped its attempt to keep the money roughly two months after the woman joined a class-action lawsuit challenging cash seizures at airports.
It's time to do something about police seizures of property from innocent people.
Gerardo Serrano, whose truck was seized over five forgotten handgun rounds, waited two years for a hearing he never actually got.
The lawsuit argues that the DEA is violating the Fourth Amendment by seizing money from travelers without evidence of criminal activity.
The cops seized Kevin McBride's $15,000 car because his girlfriend allegedly used it for a $25 marijuana sale.
Kevin McBride argues that Arizona's civil forfeiture law is unconstitutional.
Like other innocent owners, Manni Munir finds that fighting a civil forfeiture can cost more than the property is worth.
In two-thirds of those cases, there were no accompanying arrests.
Federal civil asset forfeiture bill reintroduced as police reform efforts hit a partisan wall.
These reforms would protect all Americans while reducing racial disparities in policing.
Reducing law enforcement requires more than merely cutting and shifting a budget.
Would you be surprised if you learned the former district attorney was caught leasing an SUV with asset forfeiture funds?
In Timbs v. Indiana, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause applies to state asset forfeiture seizures. But key issues were left for lower courts to resolve.
Indiana is still fighting to keep Tyson Timbs' SUV seven years after it first seized the car, but for now, it's back in Timbs' driveway.
