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by balls187 3867 days ago
Wild guess: Only because the data shown (in the article) goes back 10 years. As Civil Forfeitures started as part of the War on Drugs, I suspect it's been rising since the 1980's.

The revenue from Civil Forfeitures are used to offset the recent (decade+?) decline in funding that local governments have.

A recent segment on Last Week Tonite[1] on Civil Forfeiture highlighted local police using it as a way to shore up their coffers.

Edited to add: Youtube Link

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kEpZWGgJks