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I agree it sounds absolutely absurd - first time I heard about it I couldn’t believe it.

The Wikipedia page has more on the rationale, good or bad:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United...

I like how the first two paragraphs under the intro (History) is basically outlining how the British doing it to American colonists was a catalyst for violent revolution to come…

…and then the third is describing how American courts immediately recreated the laws with these inspirations to increase their budgets.

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