As part of its efforts to combat illegal drug trafficking in the city of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office regularly employs Pennsylvania’s Controlled Substances Forfeiture Act to seek forfeiture of real and personal property connected with narcotics activity. While the goal of cracking down on drug crimes is a laudable one, an unfortunate consequence is that innocent homeowners are often ensnared in the forfeiture net, and such individuals can be deprived of ownership of their primary residence upon a showing by prosecutors, using only a preponderance of the evidence standard, that the property was used to facilitate illegal activity and without convicting the homeowner of any wrongdoing. Through the ongoing efforts of Philadelphia VIP, and volunteer attorneys who handle VIP cases in this area, innocent property owners can be sure their rights are protected.
While the legal concept of “forfeiture” as punishment for wrongdoing traces its roots to ancient times, most laws authorizing civil forfeiture were enacted during the 1980s as part of the nationwide “war on drugs.” The goal of those asset forfeiture laws was to ensure that criminals—primarily drug kingpins—were not only criminally prosecuted but also deprived of the “tools of their trade.” In other words, civil forfeiture laws were intended to be used to seize the homes, cars, boats and airplanes that were either used by criminals to facilitate drug trafficking or were purchased by criminals using proceeds of their criminal activities. While civil forfeiture laws were certainly used (and are still used) for this purpose, more recently the laws have been utilized in ways that implicate entirely innocent property owners.
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