Missouri’s civil forfeiture laws are better than most, scoring a B+. Unlike most states, Missouri requires a criminal conviction or a guilty plea before property can be forfeited civilly. However, from there, the government need only connect the property to the crime only by a preponderance of the evidence. And an innocent owner wishing to have property returned must intervene and prove that she had no knowledge of the criminal activity of which her property is accused in order to recover it. Finally, Missouri provides no incentive to police for profit: All forfeiture money must be used to fund schools.

Missouri’s forfeiture reporting requirements look good on paper, but they do little to provide transparency in actuality. Law enforcement officers must report seizures and forfeitures to their prosecuting attorneys or the attorney general, who then provide annual reports to the state auditor. These reports are presented to the Legislature and published on the state auditor’s website. Prosecuting attorneys and the attorney general are also required to detail any criminal charges that were filed and the final disposition of the property—an unusually high level of detail. However, reports only cover assets seized in that calendar year, so assets not fully forfeited by year’s end are simply reported as “pending” and will not appear again in future reports. Thus, these reports may never account for millions of dollars’ worth of forfeitures. In addition, several Missouri agencies failed to report their forfeitures on a yearly basis. The data available show that agencies reportedly forfeited approximately $1.6 million between 2000 and 2014, but this figure likely severely undercounts forfeitures.