What is civil forfeiture?

In the United States, civil forfeiture (also called civil asset forfeiture or civil judicial forfeiture) is a process in which law enforcement officers take assets from people who are suspected of involvement with crime or illegal activity without necessarily charging the owners with wrongdoing.

What is an example of a civil forfeiture case?

In a civil forfeiture case, the asset itself is listed as the "defendant". For example, one case was titled State of Texas v. One Gold Crucifix, based on a traffic stop in which a woman was pulled over, no charges were filed, but this item of jewelry was seized. Another case name was United States v. $35,651.11 in U.S. Currency.

What is an example of asset forfeiture?

For example, asset forfeiture occurs when the state confiscates an expensive car from a drug dealer. The state then puts these items up for auction and uses the proceeds to both repay the victims of the crime and to fund law enforcement activities. To explore this concept, consider the following Asset Forfeiture definition. Noun