Civil asset forfeiture has been used to take millions of dollars away from people who have never been convicted of any crime.
Despite there being many instances were authorities have overstepped their boundaries in taking funds from people, who've later sought to appeal the injustice that took place, the act is still widely prevalent today and continues to come at a tremendous cost.
Those who have been targeted under civil asset forfeiture have had their reputation ruined, it has cost them jobs, relationships, and more.
This policy has eroded private property rights for individuals in places like United States and Canada, the state has profited and made millions at the expense of deteriorating Constitutional protections that should've prevented such widespread injustices from taking place.
Recently, police in Georgia made a profitable traffic stop where they managed to seize over $500,000 from one vehicle who they claim was seen to be “driving erratically”.
Once that car was pulled over it's reported that no drugs had been found but they did find lots of cash and that cash has since been confiscated, with authorities claiming that they'll be looking forward to spending it on the department if its determined that it was obtained illegally; the investigation allegedly remains open at this time.
There are many victims who have had their cash taken from them, who have been viewed as and treated as a criminal simply because they had ”too much cash” on them, which is an amount that is entirely subjective.
Previous reports have alleged that the DEA has even resorted to using domestic travel records to profile millions of travelers, and seize millions of dollars at various airports around the country.
Increasingly, those who have challenged being targeted under this arguably unconstitutional policy, have been later been justified in having their property returned. More and more states have now sought to introduced their own “checks and balances” that might attempt to curb the corruption but the abuse is still too widespread.
The U.S. Constitution demands that people be free from unreasonable confiscations of their private property, you'd think this would include not having your property stolen if you haven't committed a crime. People are supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty, but when they are targeted under civil asset forfeiture the pressure is then on them to prove that their property is innocent.
This is a bogus practice, little more than a cash grab for government, that has helped illegitimately bring in millions of dollars for various departments and agencies and it's a practice that, for the best interest of liberty, should be brought to a close permanently.
