Please enjoy the latest edition of Short Circuit, a weekly feature written by a bunch of people at the Institute for Justice.
Nearly a decade ago, New Mexico all but eliminated civil forfeiture, ending the practice of taking people's stuff without convicting them of a crime. And then what happened? Did the state descend into lawlessness? On the contrary, crime rates were not impacted. So says a peer-reviewed study newly published in the Criminal Justice Review that used nine years of monthly data and compared against control states. Henceforth, policymakers can rest easy knowing that if they do the right thing and nuke civil forfeiture into the sun, the only thing they'll be doing is protecting civil rights.
