Could the practice of civil asset forfeiture be abolished?

This appeared in The Millennial Source

Law enforcement agencies across the United States have long upheld a practice known as civil asset forfeiture (or civil judicial forfeiture) as an important tool for combating crime. This practice for seizing property and money used in a crime, is designed to help cripple criminal organizations and fund law enforcement initiatives.

At a moment when limiting police authority is being hotly debated, the practice of civil asset forfeiture makes for an understandable target of reform. It’s one of those rare topics that unifies both sides of the political spectrum, with conservatives and liberals alike opposing the practice.

But efforts to limit or abolish it have made little progress at the federal level.

What is civil asset forfeiture?

Civil asset forfeiture is a means by which law enforcement can seize products, property or money used or acquired in a criminal enterprise. In American law, the practice goes back to the founding of the country, though the largest expansions to the laws have occurred within the last 50 years.

Prior to the 1970s, civil asset forfeiture was mostly used to seize items that had been used in a crime, such as…