In America, police and prosecutors can take your cash, your car, or even your home through a legal process called civil forfeiture—without convicting or even charging you with a crime. When they do, victims face a maze of short deadlines, complicated paperwork, and a system built so that the government often wins by default. 

The Institute for Justice leads the fight against this abuse, in part by publishing Policing for Profit: the best and most complete analysis of civil forfeiture across all 50 states and the federal government. And we’ve just released the Fourth Edition. 

Today we talk with IJ’s Senior Director of Strategic Research Lisa Knepper and IJ senior attorney Kirby West. We’re breaking down what the report found, how we built it, and what forfeiture looks like from the perspective of the people who have had property taken and had to fight to get it back. 

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