The TAKEN team spent two years documenting every civil asset forfeiture case from 2014 to 2016 in the state — more than 3,200 cases involving more than 4,000 people — to show police had seized more than $17 million from people. Most of that cash ended up in the hands of police, and reform advocates say that creates an incentive for police to seek profit from forfeiture. The investigation found that in 19 percent of cases no one was charged with a related crime, and in nearly 20 percent of cases someone was charged with a crime but not convicted.
Nathaniel Cary is one of the investigative reporters who worked on TAKEN for The Greenville News and joined me on The Morning Answer today.