Philadelphia’s Civil Forfeiture Machine Facts and Figures

The Size and Scope of Philadelphia’s Civil Forfeiture Machine

In 2011 alone, Philadelphia filed 6,560 civil forfeiture petitions. By contrast, Allegheny County (the second largest county in Pennsylvania, where Pittsburgh is located) filed roughly 200 civil forfeiture petitions from 2008-2011.
Each year, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office files civil forfeiture petitions against 300 to 500 homes and other real properties.

In 2010, Philadelphia filed more than 8,200 cash-forfeiture cases worth an average of $550 each. A sample of more than 100 cases from 2011 to 2012 reveals that the median amount of cash seized was only $178.

From 2002 to 2012, Philadelphia averaged almost $6 million in annual civil forfeiture revenue.
Philadelphia’s forfeiture machine raked in over $64 million from 2002 to 2012. By contrast, during that same time all of Pennsylvania’s 66 other counties took in $84 million combined.
Although Philadelphia’s population is smaller than Brooklyn, New York and Los Angeles County, it brings in twice as much civil forfeiture revenue as these two combined.
From 2002 through 2012, Philadelphia seized and forfeited 1,172 homes and other real properties, 3,290 automobiles and other vehicles and over $44 million in cash.

On average, Philadelphia’s forfeiture machine revenue equals almost 20 percent of the Philadelphia DA’s general budget.
Philadelphia spends nearly 40 percent of its forfeiture revenue on salaries, including the salaries of the very officials doing the seizing and forfeiting.
From 2002 to 2012, Philadelphia spent almost twice as much forfeiture revenue on salaries ($25,516,155) as all other Pennsylvania counties combined ($12,315,340.43).
Philadelphia spends none of its forfeiture revenue on community-based drug programs.

A review of more than 8,000 civil forfeiture cases revealed that property owners have been forced to return to Courtroom 478 five times on average before their cases were completed.
More than 100 property owners had to return to Courtroom 478 ten times or more, risking a default judgment if they failed to appear just once.