It's a laughably ludicrous violation of the Fourth Amendment. I can only assume that its constitutionality is not challenged in court or is challenged and not upheld.
It's unjust, but many of the victims are actual criminals and so nothing is done.
It's unjust, but many of the victims are actual criminals and so nothing is done.
Very few of the victims are criminals.
https://www.nemannlawoffices.com/blog/law-enforcement-seized...
> One more data point supports this contention: At the federal level, at least, "the vast majority of forfeiture victims are never convicted or charged with a crime," according to Carpenter. Using data obtained via FOIA requests, Carpenter found that 87 percent of federal forfeiture proceedings were civil cases, not criminal ones. "It's troubling that 87% of the time the conviction appears to be irrelevant," co-author Lisa Knepper said.
So the people who can afford to lose the money (criminals) get to avoid a charge just by bribing the cops, and the people who did nothing wrong have to pay the cops.
Crooked all around.