Pennsylvania has some of the worst civil forfeiture laws in the country. Earning a D-, Pennsylvania law only requires law enforcement to tie property to a crime by a preponderance of the evidence in order to forfeit it. Innocent owners are required to prove that they did not participate in, give consent to or have knowledge of the criminal activity with which their property is associated. Worst of all, law enforcement agencies have every incentive to seize: They retain 100 percent of all forfeiture proceeds.

Law enforcement agencies in Philadelphia have taken full advantage of the money-making opportunity afforded by Pennsylvania law. Between 2002 and 2013, forfeiture revenues were equivalent to nearly one-fifth of the Philadelphia district attorney’s budget.

The Keystone State’s forfeiture reporting requirements provide limited transparency. Each county is required to make annual reports of its forfeitures and forfeiture fund expenditures to the attorney general, who aggregates the reports and sends them to the Legislature. However, these reports would be more helpful if they included such features as itemized lists of forfeited assets or breakdowns of civil versus criminal forfeitures. The reports are not available online, forcing interested parties to file a request under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law. Data obtained by the Institute for Justice using a RTKL request indicate that Pennsylvania law enforcement agencies reportedly forfeited more than $152 million between 2000 and 2013, averaging about $10.9 million per fiscal year.