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The injustice of “policing for profit” — and how to end it | Dick M. Carpenter II

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. Many countries have an active, centuries-old law that allows government agencies to take your things — your house, your car, your business — without ever convicting you of a crime. Law researcher Dick M. Carpenter II exposes how this…

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Many countries have an active, centuries-old law that allows government agencies to take your things — your house, your car, your business — without ever convicting you of a crime. Law researcher Dick M. Carpenter II exposes how this practice of civil forfeiture threatens your rights and creates a huge monetary incentive for law enforcement to pocket your possessions — and he lays out a path to end “policing for profit” once and for all.

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48 Comments

48 Comments

  1. Sheesh

    May 19, 2020 at 10:37 pm

    First good sjw topic in quite some time. I’d advise for a rich white cis male quota to drastically improve outcomes.

  2. D J Koenig

    May 19, 2020 at 11:37 pm

    Legal Corruption, obviously. It’s a lovely, quaint idea to believe we have any power against those of the police state who are corruped over money & also who are powerful enough to make this corruption legal. Are you really trying to get us to believe we can do anything when ALL of our efforts to change this corrupt BS & seek justice have failed? They don’t care about us.

  3. Gianni Marco

    May 19, 2020 at 11:41 pm

    Why is it nobody in the legal profession (i.e. judges and police) never have property they own or work in be subject to forfeiture? A lot of crimes take place in jails, police departments, etc., and none of those get taken. Also, why is the property being “charged with a crime” not allowed given a public attorney and allowed to defend itself?

    A big concern is police just taking stuff because they want it, or planting “evidence” in order to take property that they want.

  4. Zirui Wang

    May 19, 2020 at 11:58 pm

    Materialism! We love our money, gold and cars so much that we think they are sentient.

  5. dean julian

    May 20, 2020 at 1:13 am

    thats some messed up stuff man. i heard john oliver talking about the same thing on last week tonight.

  6. David Sanchez

    May 20, 2020 at 4:07 am

    This is just a proof of how greed has been so extended across this system that even it’s confused as it was a “rigth” think to do… it’s not because the humans are greedy by Nature…no it’s because the Capitalism system often pull the worst from them….

  7. Lobos222

    May 20, 2020 at 4:12 am

    03:18 *Tax cuts that mainly favor the rich* and in turn create budget problems for local government. When you have already cut cost to the bone, people pay more for schooling indirectly, lack of worker rights mean that average buying power is down and you have some large employer company that employs fewer and fewer while also not paying taxes because profits are outsourced and in turn VAT revenue is lower than before. Then you need to get funds from somewhere that that somewhere is everybody from middle and down. More traffic stops, higher fees for “insert whatever”, more forfeiture and so on…

    Oh, money dont go to other than police? Thanks, I will cut police budget then and use the savings elsewhere were its needed. Oh, I am the bad guy because I want sewer and phone lines to function, to at least have schools open with teachers and so on…

    *Americans do NOT understand governance.* Instead they opt to change symptoms (ref TED talk “conclusion”) rather than the cause. People need to understand that issues like this TED talk happen because people are not paying their fair share of taxes and instead opt to push the burden on those that has less ability to defend themselves.

  8. Lobos222

    May 20, 2020 at 4:19 am

    NO, this mostly just happens in the US!

  9. krishnan srinivasan

    May 20, 2020 at 6:32 am

    Congratulations & Good Luck 🙂 Hope injustice is abolished in the entire US 🙂

  10. Tomasz Swiech

    May 20, 2020 at 7:43 am

    There is an ocean of injustice and illogical in the US law system. In the other words, all this ”legal system ” reminds the structure of mafia. And what you sir are talking about is only the tip of the iceberg.

  11. Darman hashim

    May 20, 2020 at 7:49 am

    american people are in sleep, they glue on politics, media and entertainment,

  12. Robert Schiavone

    May 20, 2020 at 8:02 am

    I have been aware of this for awhile. I believe that these actions by police are crimmial. Someday when war comes to our street cops will run and hide. They know their guilty.

  13. Js St

    May 20, 2020 at 8:08 am

    Thank you so much fo me shining light on yet ANOTHER egregious failure from our most trusted institutions… I myself was charged with double digit felonies in a much larger conspiracy in which ended with the chief of police being forced to resign , 30 cases being dropped , an FBI investigation, a dead lead drug detective who committed suicide after being found out Of his decades of the most criminal and shotty detective work being exposed . Long story short , you can google CORPORAL
    MIKE MITCHELL SIERRA SIERRA VISTA Police SCANDAL… all of my charges were dropped , but After the SIERRA VISTA police department and their cohorts took all of my stuff from my house , 5 months in jail , $1,800 in taken cash from wallet … anyway no one ever told me I had to pursue defense in my CIVIL CASE , the public defender in my criminal case could not help me … I even had to arrange for transportation to the courthouse if I were to go fight for my money back … FYI these laws which first introduced with the RICO laws Have been challenged all the way to the Supreme Court like 5-6 times and have obviously been shot down… ARIZONA is also one of the largest prison states ( for profit) but also in cash seizures … your local PD doesn’t have to TELL ANYONE what they did , or even … how much they seized …I’ve read stories from anonymous retired cops stating entire departments partook in lavish Christmas parties , bacholer parties funded in Vegas , and monster trucks purchased from said funds … Sierra vista is on the Mexican border in the heart of SINILOA cartel territory, so needless to say they seize a lot!!! When is someone going to be able to put a stop to this BS ??? How about we end private prisons while we’re at it !!! Legalize drugs like Portugal ( look at the statistics PLEASE to see why we should) and take back our government in this country where power is being abused , the rich get richer . While the poor get poorer !!

  14. Programmer Parker

    May 20, 2020 at 9:44 am

    Police acting like mobsters

  15. Siem Reaper

    May 20, 2020 at 11:29 am

    The proceeds of crime and drugs damage our society, money or not the statistics of the human toll speaks for itself

  16. Alex Lee

    May 20, 2020 at 1:48 pm

    I have never been asked nor have I ever heard of a police officer ask if there is large amount of cash in any vehicle ever til now

  17. MrGreggery

    May 20, 2020 at 2:11 pm

    🇺🇸 Benjamin Franklin — “He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.”

  18. DC MO

    May 20, 2020 at 5:48 pm

    TEDTALKS UHF wireless four-way microphone

  19. DJ Throne

    May 20, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    He said it best. The country needs reforms across the board. Because I can smell anarchy and revolution as the latter.

  20. Boss McMurder

    May 20, 2020 at 6:53 pm

    I like the idea however there is a key step not mentioned, disbanding the police union. They all vote together and since we are told this is a republic, the second step will never see the light of day. Remember kitties strength in numbers

  21. James L

    May 20, 2020 at 7:47 pm

    Incentivized legal theft

  22. Aleksander Fradkin

    May 20, 2020 at 8:07 pm

    The lecture will not be interesting in Russia since impounding, forfeiture, harrasement and intimidation is considered part of jurisprudence.

  23. Vicci Williams

    May 20, 2020 at 8:48 pm

    Liked and shared

  24. Cledia Camp

    May 21, 2020 at 1:39 am

    Tem como colocar em português ??? 🙏🙏

  25. J Dice

    May 21, 2020 at 4:29 am

    This has been going on for a long time. Here’s an old news investigation that found police stopping out of state drivers on a highway hoping to find cash. Stops are made far more often on the side of the highway where they suspect drug cash is moving while they don’t bother drivers in the opposite direction to stop the drugs coming in.

  26. Samantha Nandyal

    May 21, 2020 at 11:39 am

    Without addressing the disproportional effect civil forfeiture and over-policing has on black communities, we are missing a vital piece of the story and history.

  27. Enlightened Beings

    May 21, 2020 at 12:24 pm

    very important topic to talk about…excellent work…
    #EnlightenedBeings

  28. Việt Hàn

    May 21, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    teds talk is the best english!!!!

  29. Savage MindZ

    May 21, 2020 at 5:14 pm

    This is the Government that our founding fathers warned about.

  30. Melesniannon

    May 21, 2020 at 11:02 pm

    The government on civil forfeiture in the 18th century: We need an effective method to stop the pirates!
    The government on civil forfeiture since 1980: We have an effective method to BE the pirates!

  31. Hadi Hassan

    May 22, 2020 at 6:51 am

    He is a hero but how on earth did he not find a single colored victim to tell their story?

  32. Antoine Karam

    May 22, 2020 at 1:09 pm

    finally someone who did something about it

  33. Grenzer Smites

    May 22, 2020 at 1:28 pm

    People are all for the police until this happens to them. It’s really sad.

  34. IKap

    May 23, 2020 at 11:55 am

    What an eye opener

  35. Tal Park

    May 24, 2020 at 2:06 am

    You lost me at the disingenuous beginning…..

  36. Mustafa Hasan

    May 24, 2020 at 11:11 am

    Land of the free!

  37. ma0 martinez

    May 24, 2020 at 5:48 pm

    The injustice of taking London real ted talk down

  38. Invox

    May 24, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    I actually was thinking he was going to talk about how the Police and Private prision profit from “fabricated” crimes.
    But this was new and most interesting.

  39. rylar717

    May 25, 2020 at 12:17 am

    Restore Brian Rose’s TED talk by orders of the London Real Army

  40. Nico Pogi

    May 25, 2020 at 2:00 am

    First thing I thought of when I saw the title was small towns in Texas that have speed traps. Many small towns here create revenue by issuing a bunch of speed tickets a day.

  41. Æthelpence

    May 25, 2020 at 2:34 am

    But, we mustn’t forget that anyone can get back their confiscated properties if they prove that they were not used to commit a crime. I think the reason we don’t talk about this is society is because it is a completely logical system to us, until someone tells us that it’s not. I mean, it’s literally just confiscation of property suspected of being used to commit crime until proven otherwise. That money goes to further public safety through law enforcement, not some profit scheme, and 99% of any victims will still be guilty of an avoidable offence, even if it was minor. Does this mean there are no injustices due to the absence of a full trial? Of course not, but the system as it is written into law is a fairly sound principle. If I hand a gun to a shooter, am I not guilty too? All parties should be punished, whereas this talk implies that police will prioritise civil forfeiture over law enforcement based only on one drugs case.

  42. Shannon Lin

    May 25, 2020 at 5:59 am

    Yes because of course cars, bikes, motels, and cash all have intent/emotion and have the element of mens rea to commit a crime… doesn’t this all go against fundamental human rights?? I can’t see where the ‘civil’ fits in with all this

  43. adam mm

    May 25, 2020 at 6:27 am

    How disappointing TED!! Instead of burning books your engaging in internet censorship. This will be remembered in the years to come. Its an idea worth speading put back Brains vid. It had over a million views…

  44. Get In

    May 25, 2020 at 8:28 am

    This started out of racism, hatred….america sucks.

    • Robert Slackware

      May 26, 2020 at 4:43 pm

      maybe that is why they hate america. getting sucked by who knows what in a burka probably isn’t fun.
      Racism is YOUR fault. All you need to do is educate yourself if you want others to not be superior.

  45. Robert Slackware

    May 26, 2020 at 4:37 pm

    A good start on stopping the mess is that bail money goes to the victim if the crook skips. Now the courts don’t’ have a financial interest in railroading people. and the crook has a VESTED interest in not delaying his trial. Victim gets impatient he can just kill him and hide the body and collect when he doesn’t show.

  46. Robert Slackware

    May 26, 2020 at 4:51 pm

    Thunderbird should have struck that toyota from the jury.
    Cash is the easiest to stop. You file a police report listing the stolen serial numbers. Now if they spend the money, it gets returned to you. Once stores get shafted holding the stolen goods, no one will take their stolen money.

  47. RantKid

    May 26, 2020 at 9:20 pm

    I love how Trump made America great by NOT addressing such systemic issues. He wants more power, and nothing else. And he’s using marginalized citizens to do it.

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