Civil Asset Forfeiture and its Impact on Communities of Color in Georgia
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On December 8, 2020, the Georgia Advisory Committee (Committee) to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (Commission) adopted a proposal to study civil asset forfeiture and its impact on communities of color in the state. From a civil rights perspective, the Committee sought to consider the extent to which property seized in Georgia (using civil asset forfeiture and/or related federal equitable sharing agreements) is seized without due process of law. The Committee also examined the extent to which, in practice, these forfeitures result in a disparate impact on communities of color in the state.
Similarly alarming trends can be seen in Georgia. In March of 2020, The Georgia Center for Opportunity, a non-partisan think tank focused on Georgia state issues reported: “Over the three years studied—2016 through 2018—law enforcement entities reported an aggregate of $49,073,127 in state revenue and $31,948,225 in federal revenue from civil asset forfeitures, including $4,452,238 in state net income from the sale of seized assets.”13