CIVIL FORFEITURE

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Forfeiture Laws

The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that no citizen can be deprived of property without due process of law. See U.S. Const. amend. XIV. Despite due process concerns, many state and local governments (as well as the federal government)...

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Civil forfeiture allows the government (typically the police) to seize — and then keep or sell — any property that is allegedly involved in a crime or illegal activity. Owners need not ever be arrested or convicted of a crime for their cash,...

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Petitioners Halima Culley and Lena Sutton both owned vehicles that were seized under Alabama laws which allow the state to hold, subject to civil forfeiture proceedings, property used to facilitate drug crimes. Culley v. Attorney Gen. at 2. On February...