Overview
Can police legally take your money without charging you with a crime? John Stossel explores civil asset forfeiture through the stories of people whose cash was seized despite no criminal charges. With commentary from an Institute for Justice attorney and a former Justice Department official who helped write forfeiture laws, this video reveals how a tool meant to fight drug cartels became what critics call legalized theft.

Enter your email address below to access these resources

To help ensure our emails reach your inbox, you may provide a personal email address to bypass school spam filters.

Lesson Insights

Grade level and subjects
• Recommended for grades 6-12
• Subjects: Government
• Works in Classroom, Hybrid, and Homeschool settings

What students will learn
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• describe what civil asset forfeiture is and how it allows police to seize property without a criminal conviction;
• compare the original intent of forfeiture laws with their real-world consequences for innocent people;
• identify how the profit incentive in forfeiture laws creates conflicts of interest for law enforcement agencies; and
• judge whether current reforms to civil asset forfeiture go far enough to protect individual property rights.

Key concepts and terms covered
Civil Asset Forfeiture, Due Process, Institute for Justice, Probable Cause, and Profit Incentive.

Sample discussion questions
• What is civil asset forfeiture, and how does it differ from being charged with a crime?
• Brad Cates helped write forfeiture laws to target drug cartels. Why does he now call those same laws "a monster"?
• The video states there are over 400 forfeiture laws that "take your stuff and make you prove to get it back." How does this reverse the usual burden of proof, and why should that concern citizens?
• Four states have banned civil asset forfeiture entirely. About two dozen others have reformed their laws. What trade-offs are involved in banning forfeiture versus simply reforming it?
• What lesson does this video offer about the unintended consequences of well-intentioned laws? Can you think of other examples where a law created problems its authors didn't anticipate?

What’s in the free teacher’s guide
This printable 20-page Teacher's Guide includes a lesson description, learning objectives, key vocabulary, a fill-in viewing guide with answer key, discussion and analysis questions, classroom activities, and the full video transcript.

Standards alignment
Aligned to state standards — use the SITC Standards Tool to match this video to the standards in your state.