Title: Civil Asset Forfeiture: A Judicial Perspective,
Abstract: Civil Asset Forfeiture (CAF) is a longstanding and controversial legal
process viewed on the one hand as a powerful tool for combating drug crimes and
on the other hand as a violation of the rights of US citizens. Data used to
support both sides of the controversy to date has come from government sources
representing records of the events at the time of occurrence. Court dockets
represent litigation events initiated following the forfeiture, however, and
can thus provide a new perspective on the CAF legal process. This paper will
show new evidence supporting existing claims about the growth of the practice
and bias in its application based on the quantitative analysis of data derived
from these court cases.