Arizona

Grades
Forfeiture
Law Grade
State Law Evasion Grade  Final
Grade
Arizona

 

Forfeiture Law
Arizona’s civil asset forfeiture laws are in need of serious reform.  In Arizona, the government may forfeit your property by showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the property is subject to forfeiture.  Unfortunately, a property owner claiming an innocent owner exemption to the forfeiture laws—because, for example, he did not know his property was being used illegally—bears the burden of proving his innocence.In Arizona, law enforcement personnel have a strong incentive to seize as much property as they can since they receive 100 percent of the funds raised through civil forfeitures.  Even more troublesome, Arizona law enforcement can use forfeiture revenue to pay the direct salaries of personnel.[1]  Arizona took advantage of its broad forfeiture statutes by collecting more than $64 million in forfeiture revenue in a mere four-year period (2000-2003).  Arizona also received over $35 million in equitable sharing revenue from 2000 to 2008, although these numbers may overlap to some extent, as it is not clear whether equitable sharing revenue was included in responses to freedom of information requests.


[1]  Keller, T., & Wright, J. (2004). Policing and prosecuting for profit: Arizona’s civil asset forfeiture laws violate basic due process protections (No. 198). Phoenix, AZ: Goldwater Institute.

 

 

Forfeitures as Reported to LEMAS (Drug-related only)

Total Assets Forfeited

Assets Forfeited per
Law Enforcement Agency

1993

$9,085,629

$247,399

1997

$21,045,288

$140,611

2000

$11,768,481

$101,529

2003

$17,333,065

$145,703

 

Equitable Sharing Proceeds from the Assets Forfeiture Fund (AFF)

Proceeds Returned to State

FY 2000

$1,943,015

FY 2001

$3,639,423

FY 2002

$2,226,222

FY 2003

$2,223,797

FY 2004

$2,161,873

FY 2005

$2,021,896

FY 2006

$8,930,498

FY 2007

$6,763,897

FY 2008

$6,001,689

Total

$35,912,310

Average per Year

$3,990,257

 

Freedom of Information Data
Reports of forfeitures by county; types and numbers of law enforcement agencies unclear

State

Counties

Total

2000

$1,583,751

$12,388,602

$13,972,353

2001

$3,154,593

$12,083,186

$15,237,779

2002

$4,183,462

$12,445,228

$16,628,690

2003

$4,359,795

$14,319,403

$18,679,198

Total

$13,281,601

$51,236,419

$64,518,020

Average per Year

$3,320,400

$12,809,105

$16,129,505

 

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