Colorado

 

Grades
Forfeiture
Law Grade
State Law Evasion Grade  Final
Grade
Colorado

 

Forfeiture Law
Colorado reformed its civil asset forfeiture laws in 2005, but room for improvement remains.  For the government to forfeit your property now, it must have clear and convincing evidence that the property is related to criminal activity and thus subject to forfeiture.  Thankfully, innocent owners are not required to prove their innocence in Colorado.  Instead, the government bears the burden of showing that the owner participated in the alleged criminal activity.  Law enforcement keeps 50 percent of all funds generated through civil forfeiture.Prior to the reforms passed in 2005, Colorado law enforcement could take property when it was merely more likely than not that it had been used in criminal activity, innocent owners had to prove their own innocence and law enforcement reaped 100 percent of the forfeiture windfall.  While there remains work to be done, the reforms have clearly improved the forfeiture landscape in Colorado.

 

 

Forfeitures as Reported to LEMAS (Drug-related only)

Total Assets
Forfeited

Assets Forfeited per
Law Enforcement Agency

1993

$2,577,295

$35,938

1997

$4,127,549

$15,989

2000

$2,408,996

$10,326

2003

$2,555,456

$9,975

 

Equitable Sharing Proceeds from the Assets Forfeiture Fund (AFF)

Proceeds Returned to State

FY 2000

$639,942

FY 2001

$5,013,103

FY 2002

$1,348,887

FY 2003

$1,288,769

FY 2004

$1,712,673

FY 2005

$2,944,760

FY 2006

$5,159,744

FY 2007

$4,799,505

FY 2008

$4,211,955

Total

$27,119,338

Average per Year

$3,013,260

 

Freedom of Information Data
Reports of forfeitures from some judicial districts, some police departments, and some sheriff’s departments

2000

All Law Enforcement Agencies

Task Forces

Total

Forfeitures

$11,678,627

$277,920

$11,956,547

 

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