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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Do the profits from civil asset forfeiture end up in police slush funds?

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

By Mia Dillon

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YES

Money from civil asset forfeiture, which is the police seizure of property belonging to people suspected of involvement in a crime, accounts for billions of dollars collected by agencies at local, state and federal levels each year. The seizure is often legal whether or not the person is found guilty of a crime.

A significant portion of these funds goes directly to law enforcement, including the police and prosecutors who decided to take the assets in the first place. As of 2020, in 32 states, between 80% and 100% of forfeiture proceeds end up in coffers controlled by law enforcement. The same is true at the federal level.

Since this money has less oversight than budgets set by legislatures, law enforcement has used it for expenses like expensive vehicles and high-end dining and travel. In a sample of 13 states, law enforcement spent almost none of the money on victims.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Institute of Justice: Policing for profit, 3rd edition

Wiley: Civil asset forfeiture laws and equitable sharing activity by the police

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Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.