The state frequently exercises the power to take your private property away from you and hold it for an indefinite amount of time, even though you have never been charged or convicted of any crime. Sound a bit unjust? Well, it is and civil asset forfeiture has been the legislation that's enabled widespread abuses around the country and contributed to a further deterioration of property rights for Americans for years now.

In the meantime though, it's helped to bring in billions of dollars for the state, whether that be in the form of cash, houses, cars, boats, or some other property.

It's a lucrative business and the state has told the public that the purposes of this violaion of property rights and Constitutionally protected rights, is because it's helping to fight crime. But is it? According to a study on the topic by the Institute For Justice, civil asset forfeiture has been seen to have no meaningful effect on reducing crime.

Civil Asset Forfeiture does next to nothing for fighting crime.

It is a policy which has caught thousands of people up in the web already, people who have had thousands of dollars taken from them, sometimes their life savings, over minor incidents.

The majority of these victims are never charged with a crime.

Regularly, Americans are told that they should be thankful for their freedom, but what freedom is that which can be violated at any time by an organization; who can take what they want from you without having to prove any wrongdoing on your part. Isn't government supposed to be there to protect people from being robbed? Isn't that the fairytale? What then are you supposed to feel or think when it is your own government doing the looting? Who are they really serving, because you cannot serve someone and unwillingly violate them at the same time.

No individual or group should be awarded the authority to confiscate your property from you and then require you to prove how that property is innocent before they release it. That is exactly what civil asset forfeiture does, it fuels corruption and abuse and there is no legitimate reason to hold or perpetuate these powers further; it will only cause more to be unjustly victimized by the state.

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pic1 P Iglesias via C Reader
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