I know this is c/micromobility but I want to briefly describe the legal insanity that is civil forfeiture, when applied to anything that isn’t multi-million dollar criminal enterprises. Basically, the government can take an object to court, basically putting it on trial. The question is whether said object is connected (however loosely) to a crime (which depending on the US State, can include traffic violations). Unlike a person, an object has zero constitutional rights, is not entitled to a lawyer, and while the owner is permitted to represent the object, the burden of proof is flipped: the owner must show that their object was not involved in any crime.

This is nuts. It is balderdash. It is often abused to get some extra revenue for the DA’s office. John Oliver has a segment dedicated to this insane practice, which in most states is entirely separate from the underlying criminal proceedings.

Using civil forfeiture against individuals (esp if acquitted of a crime) should be unlawful, and its use against groups or enterprises should be better guarded against abuse.