President and General Counsel
Grades |
State Law Evasion Grade | Final Grade |
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Iowa
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Forfeiture Law![]() |
Iowa’s civil forfeiture laws place a heavy burden on property owners. Under state law, the prosecutor must only show that the property is related to criminal activity and can be forfeited by a preponderance of the evidence. Once the prosecutor meets that burden, the burden is on the property owner to show his innocence, or in other words, that he did not know and could not have reasonably known of the conduct or that he acted reasonably to prevent the conduct giving rise to the forfeiture. Moreover, law enforcement receives 100 percent of the value of any property seized under Iowa forfeiture law, and law enforcement agencies are not required to collect or report their forfeiture proceeds. |
Forfeitures as Reported to LEMAS (Drug-related only)![]() |
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Equitable Sharing Proceeds from the Assets Forfeiture Fund (AFF) ![]() |
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Freedom of Information Data![]() |
No Data Available; Not Required to Collect
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Arlington, Va.—It’s called policing for profit and it’s happening all across America. And Iowa has some of the worst laws in the nation for encouraging abuse. Under a practice called “civil forfeiture,” police and prosecutors’ offices seize private property—often without ever charging the owners with a crime, much less convicting them of one—then keep or…
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Last modified: January 1, 2020