A North Carolina teenager was hoping to get her life back on track after a state judge ordered a man who sexually abused her to pay her $69,000. Instead, she got a nasty surprise.
The local police department had already seized the cash through civil asset forfeiture, and it was already gone. Despite a judge’s order, she will get nothing.
The case is a stunning example of the misplaced priorities and perverse incentives that asset forfeiture creates for police—and of how the federal government allows state and local police to evade reforms to stop forfeiture abuse.
Yeah, the money’s not gone. We know where it went, and there was no actual crime related to the money.
Civil forfeiture is state-sponsored theft.
Don’t worry about silly things like rights. You have no rights and no property if the proper authority arbitrarily decides you don’t.