For the John Templeton Foundation, I wrote about the impact and ethical concerns stemming from asset seizures in marginalized communities.
By the time it was shut down in 2018, one of the country’s most notorious civil forfeiture programs had ensnared 30,000 Philadelphians, disproportionately affecting Black and low-income residents as it seized cash, cars, homes and other property that authorities alleged were involved in criminal activity. “Frustrating, Corrupt, Unfair: Civil Forfeiture in the Words of Its Victims” is a new 52-page report issued by the advocacy group responsible for the dismantling of Philadelphia’s troubled civil forfeiture regime. The report shows how members of minority communities, the poor, and the least educated were all more likely to have assets seized and less likely to combat unjust forfeitures successfully.
The report was funded with a grant from the John Templeton Foundation to the Institute for Justice, the advocacy group that advanced the class-action lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia that led to a settlement ending the city’s “policing for profit” program and established a $3 million compensation fund for victims of the city’s forfeiture practices.