 Sometimes it can mean a threat to seize property as well as the act of seizure itself.In civil forfeiture, assets are seized by police based on a suspicion of wrongdoing, and without having to charge a person with specific wrongdoing, with the case being between police and the "thing itself", sometimes referred to by the Latin term "in rem", meaning "against the property"; the property itself is the defendant and no criminal charge against the owner is needed.If property is seized in a civil forfeiture, it is "up to the owner to prove that his cash is clean" and the court can weigh a defendant's use of their 5th amendment right to remain silent in their decision.