Check out this report in this week’s The New Yorker by Sarah Stillman on the use and abuse of civil forfeiture in the US. Here is one excerpt: “In general, you needn’t be found guilty to have your assets claimed by law enforcement; in some states, suspicion on a par with ‘probable cause’ is sufficient. Nor must you be charged with a crime, or even be accused of one. Unlike criminal forfeiture, which requires that a person be convicted of an offense before his or her property is confiscated, civil forfeiture amounts to a lawsuit filed directly against a possession, regardless of its owner’s guilt or innocence.”

So what is the difference between theft and civil forfeiture?