When Government Steals Your Property: A Goldwater Institute Event about Civil Asset Forfeiture

Can government really take away property from an innocent person—someone who hasn’t been even accused of a crime, let alone convicted of one?

Shockingly, it’s a common occurrence across the country—where government seizes and auctions off an innocent person’s property and keeps the profits for themselves. The Institute for Justice finds that “since 2000, states and the federal government forfeited a combined total of at least $68.8 billion.” In short, this practice—known as civil asset forfeiture—is a big problem from coast to coast, and many innocent Americans are suffering.

On Wednesday, February 24, at 11 am Arizona time (1 p.m. EST), the Goldwater Institute hosted alive webinar on the problem of asset forfeiture—and how we fighting back against this government theft. For instance, last year, the Goldwater Institute stood up for Tucson handyman Kevin McBride: The government seized Kevin’s Jeep after the police claimed his girlfriend sold $25 worth of marijuana—and then they demanded he pay $1,900 to get it returned to him. The Goldwater Institute threatened to sue the government, but before we even had to step foot in court, the government gave the Jeep back.

In this special webinar, Goldwater President and CEO Victor Riches and Paul Avelar, Managing Attorney of the Institute for Justice’s Arizona office, discuss the litigation and legislative reform efforts happening across the country to stop civil asset forfeiture—and talk about why this is an urgent issue that ought to be addressed now.

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