Missouri Courts
Each county of Missouri has a circuit court that has three levels of jurisdiction. Each court provides public access to records and cooperates in state inter-agency communications.
Jurisdiction
- Municipal divisions handle only municipal ordinance violations. The municipality may choose to designate a municipal judge or may elect to have the associate circuit judge hear municipal cases.
- Associate divisions handle civil matters that do not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), felony cases prior to the filing of the information in the circuit division, misdemeanor, and infractions. An associate circuit judge also may hear municipal cases as well as cases assigned by the circuit division. Often, local court rules will define what cases are heard by the associate judge.
- Circuit divisions can handle all cases whether criminal or civil in nature and includes felonies and jury trials on misdemeanors, infractions and ordinances. Circuit judges hear any type of case and have original jurisdiction over all cases heard in the trial courts.
The county or city prosecutor begins the case by filing the tickets, complaints, information or indictments with the clerk. Once the clerk has started the case, the next step will be for the case to come before a judge.
Public Access to Records
The State of Missouri Judiciary offers a website called Case.net to provide free public access to case information.
Case information available on Case.net comes from the information entered by judicial staff in the court's computer database. Case information is immediately available through the internet. Confidential court records are not available to the public on Case.net or through the court.
Inter-Agency Cooperation
Missouri is one of the leaders in the United States in its efforts to effectively communicate with other state agencies. Law enforcement, prosecutors, the courts, probation and parole, as well as various agencies outside of the judiciary all work together to share information to help make Missouri a safer place to live.
State and federal laws and regulations require that the courts report the dispositions of certain criminal offenses within certain time limits. Missouri courts meet this requirement through electronic information sharing with different state agencies.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol has the central repository that contains the criminal history of offenders in this state. The highway patrol is responsible for gathering and distributing criminal history information.
Reasons for Inter-Agency Cooperation
The state and national databases help prevent people from obtaining privileges in which they are not legally entitled. Possible lost privileges include:
- Eligibility for certain jobs, for example, in child care or involving a commercial driver's license
- Voting rights
- Right to own firearms
Additionally, the department of revenue is responsible for administering the driver’s license program and collecting conviction information on moving violations for the assessment of points and the suspension or revocation of driving privileges.
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