A large and growing list of Americans -- now numbering in the hundreds of thousands -- who have been victimized by civil asset forfeiture. Under civil asset forfeiture, everything you own can be legally taken away even if you are never convicted of a crime.

Donald P. Scott, age 61, owned and lived on a 200-acre property known as the Trails End Ranch, in the Ventura County portion of Malibu. California. On October 2, 1992, while serving a search warrant at the ranch, Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputies shot Donald Scott, resulting in his death.

How serious are property seizure abuses in the US?

Police now routinely take billions of dollars worth of property from citizens every year, often without due process.

In some states, mere "suspicion" of criminal activity is enough to justify seizures.

With states running out of money, do you think this problem will get better or worse?