The controversial practice of civil asset forfeiture, in which law enforcement agencies are able to seize private property or assets that are suspected of being used for criminal activity, gets a well-deserved bad rap, says U. of I. law professor and criminal law expert Kenworthey Bilz.

She spoke with the Illinois News Bureau about the controversial practice.

"Civil forfeiture rightly gets a bad rap. It allows the government to permanently take your money, car, real estate or any property if it can prove they were used to further criminal activity. In most states, you don’t even have to be convicted of – or, sometimes, charged with – a crime beforehand. In other words, civil asset forfeiture sounds like the kind of thing that might happen in a banana republic, not a society governed by the rule of law."

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