Civil Forfeiture: How the Government Makes Billions by Taking Americans’ Private Property

In civil forfeiture cases, a person’s property is considered as being connected to a crime. And once someone’s property is taken, they have to prove innocence instead of a prosecutor proving guilt.

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Police officers raided Cristal Starling’s Rochester, New York, apartment in October 2020, when they suspected her then-boyfriend of dealing drugs, and seized $8,040 of her hard-earned cash even as Ms. Starling was never suspected of or charged with any wrongdoing.

But because law enforcement seized Ms. Starling’s money through a process called civil forfeiture, they were under no obligation to return it. And they didn’t.