Virginia
Policing for Profit
Virginia earns a D- for its civil forfeiture laws
Low bar to forfeit and no conviction required
Poor protections for innocent third-party property owners
100% of forfeiture proceeds go to law enforcement
State Forfeiture Laws
Virginia has some of the worst civil forfeiture laws in the nation, earning a D-. In order to forfeit property in Virginia, the government need only show by a preponderance of the evidence that property is related to criminal activity. Innocent owners also bear the burden of proving that they had nothing to do with the alleged criminal activity in which their property has been implicated. Worst of all, Virginia law provides a tempting incentive to seize property as it allows law enforcement to retain 100 percent of forfeiture proceeds: Participating agencies keep 90 percent of the bounty, while the balance goes to the state’s Department of Criminal Justice Services.
In 2015, the Virginia House of Delegates overwhelmingly approved a bill that would have required a criminal conviction before property could be forfeited under state law. However, the Virginia Senate killed the bill, opting instead to refer the proposal to the Virginia State Crime Commission for further study.
Virginia law requires law enforcement agencies to report the type of property seized and the property’s final disposition to the DCJS. It does not require reporting on other important details, such as whether any criminal charges were filed in a case. Moreover, there is no requirement that the DCJS aggregate those reports or publish them online, providing little transparency. The Institute for Justice filed a request with the DCJS under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and learned that Virginia law enforcement agencies reportedly forfeited more than $34 million between 2000 and 2014, 80 percent of which came from cash forfeitures.
State Law Sources
| Standard of proof | Preponderance of the evidence. Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-386.10(A). |
| Innocent owner burden | Owner. Va. Code Ann. §§ 19.2-386.10(A), 19.2-386.8(3). |
| Profit incentive | 100 percent (90 percent to participating agencies, 10 percent to the Department of Criminal Justice Services). Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-386.14(A1)–(B). |
| Reporting requirements | Agencies must report seizures and forfeitures to the Department of Criminal Justice Services. Va. Code Ann. § 19.2-386.4; 6 Va. Admin. Code §§ 20-150-30, -40. |
| Other sources | Fain, T. (2015, February 17). Virginia senate kills asset forfeiture reforms. Daily Press. Retrieved from http://www.dailypress.com/news/politics/dp-nws-ga-asset-forfeiture-20150217-story.html. |
Virginia ranks 30th for federal forfeiture, with nearly $111 million in Department of Justice equitable sharing proceeds from 2000 to 2013.
State Forfeiture Data
Reported Forfeiture Proceeds
| Year | Currency | Vehicles | Real Property | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | $4,514 | $0 | $0 | $350 | $4,864 |
| 2001 | $1,697 | $25,300 | $0 | $2,110 | $29,107 |
| 2002 | $3,282 | $25,300 | $0 | $0 | $28,582 |
| 2003 | $9,888 | $21,550 | $0 | $0 | $31,438 |
| 2004 | $16,279 | $44,525 | $0 | $300 | $61,104 |
| 2005 | $19,296 | $7,000 | $0 | $5,700 | $31,996 |
| 2006 | $64,288 | $65,500 | $109,000 | $9,729 | $248,517 |
| 2007 | $248,664 | $130,080 | $167,600 | $500 | $546,844 |
| 2008 | $187,620 | $149,535 | $0 | $10,193 | $347,348 |
| 2009 | $641,335 | $272,403 | $397,600 | $26,398 | $1,337,736 |
| 2010 | $5,079,344 | $1,374,702 | $109,202 | $201,890 | $6,765,138 |
| 2011 | $5,378,117 | $1,238,682 | $110,000 | $122,335 | $6,849,134 |
| 2012 | $5,886,958 | $939,962 | $26,000 | $98,980 | $6,951,900 |
| 2013 | $5,614,249 | $854,472 | $59,300 | $48,941 | $6,576,962 |
| 2014 | $3,928,669 | $400,743 | $0 | $30,973 | $4,360,385 |
| Total | $27,084,201 | $5,549,754 | $978,702 | $558,399 | $34,171,056 |
| Average per year | $1,805,613 | $369,984 | $65,247 | $37,227 | $2,278,070 |
Reported Number of Assets Forfeited
| Year | Currency | Vehicles | Real Property | Other | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 2001 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 19 |
| 2002 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 2003 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 2004 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 17 |
| 2005 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 15 |
| 2006 | 16 | 22 | 2 | 14 | 54 |
| 2007 | 37 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 64 |
| 2008 | 64 | 34 | 1 | 17 | 116 |
| 2009 | 147 | 73 | 4 | 36 | 260 |
| 2010 | 1,139 | 298 | 3 | 155 | 1,595 |
| 2011 | 1,085 | 262 | 4 | 122 | 1,473 |
| 2012 | 1,033 | 284 | 4 | 104 | 1,425 |
| 2013 | 947 | 169 | 1 | 42 | 1,159 |
| 2014 | 844 | 95 | 0 | 21 | 960 |
| Total | 5,355 | 1,288 | 20 | 531 | 7,194 |
| Average per year | 357 | 86 | 1 | 35 | 480 |
Federal Equitable Sharing
Virginia law enforcement agencies’ use of the Department of Justice’s equitable sharing program earns the state a rank of 30th. Between 2000 and 2013, agencies received nearly $111 million in DOJ equitable sharing proceeds, though much of that came in just one year, 2007, when law enforcement hauled in over $46 million. An astonishing 96 percent of these proceeds came from joint task forces and investigations, practices mostly unaffected by former Attorney General Holder’s policy change, indicating that Virginia agencies’ equitable sharing behavior is likely to continue on much the same scale. Finally, law enforcement agencies also received over $75 million in equitable sharing proceeds from the Treasury Department between 2000 and 2013, averaging close to $5.4 million per fiscal year.
| Year | DOJ (calendar years) | Treasury (fiscal years) |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | $3,204,727 | $1,203,000 |
| 2001 | $2,140,180 | $1,731,000 |
| 2002 | $2,977,011 | $523,000 |
| 2003 | $3,380,939 | $1,084,000 |
| 2004 | $4,709,337 | $434,000 |
| 2005 | $3,726,431 | $3,877,000 |
| 2006 | $5,407,170 | $2,954,000 |
| 2007 | $46,113,588 | $1,880,000 |
| 2008 | $12,546,214 | $10,827,000 |
| 2009 | $4,030,424 | $1,794,000 |
| 2010 | $5,763,384 | $1,386,000 |
| 2011 | $4,019,777 | $994,000 |
| 2012 | $6,836,413 | $628,000 |
| 2013 | $6,077,868 | $45,838,000 |
| Total | $110,933,461 | $75,153,000 |
| Average Per Year | $7,923,819 | $5,368,071 |