Cops and Robbers, All Rolled Into One
Law-enforcement agencies seize billions a year without filing charges. Even burglars take less.

By Tony Lima
July 24, 2017 7:04 p.m. ET

There aren’t many things government can claim to do more efficiently than the private sector. Taking people’s property is one. In 2014 the federal government seized about $4.5 billion from people who hadn’t been charged with crimes. That exceeds the private-sector equivalent, burglary. According to an analysis by Armstrong Economics, perpetrators absconded with only $3.9 billion that year.

Since 2007 the Drug Enforcement Administration alone has seized more than $3 billion in currency from individuals in civil actions under which legal protections for criminal charges do not apply. Criminal asset forfeiture requires an indictment against both an individual and the property in question. With civil asset forfeiture only the property is charged before being seized.

Last week Attorney General Jeff Sessions stated his intention to increase the volume of these asset forfeitures. Contrary to published reports, the Sessions directive does not extend asset forfeiture to states that have outlawed the practice. It clarifies that federal asset forfeiture can only be applied to violations of federal law.

But there’s no doubt Mr. Sessions is putting himself in bad company. As California attorney general, Kamala Harris opposed a 2011 law restraining the practice of civil asset forfeiture. In 2015 she sponsored a bill to allow authorities to seize suspects’ assets before filing charges. That year California forfeitures totaled $50 million. Ms. Harris is now a U.S. senator in the midst of a 2020 presidential boomlet.
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Mr. Lima is a professor emeritus of economics at California State University, East Bay.

Appeared in the July 25, 2017, print edition.