Over the past century, the United States has implemented five cultural property policies and currently maintains over thirty bilateral agreements with individual foreign powers aiming to fight the illicit antiquities trade. Despite these initiatives to combat the issue, the illegal trade of cultural antiquities remains a veiled, multi-million-dollar market predominantly driven by United States collectors and institutions. In a discipline ridden with ethical concerns and research restrictions, this chapter presents one way of researching the illicit trade and explores potential methods of quantification and prevention. By examining prosecuted cases of antiquities trafficked from the Middle East and North Africa into the U.S. since the Gulf War, this chapter outlines a database framework for examining the impact cultural property policies have on combating the illicit trade from the demand side of the market. By utilizing publicly available sources to gather case documents, the database categorically and statistically analyzes prosecutions alongside object provenience, provenance, and related stakeholders. Adaptable across different jurisdictions, the methodology examined here presents a quantifiable, non-financial means of measuring the impact of the illicit trade in cultural objects alongside an assessment of the application and effectiveness of a country’s cultural property policies, which could contribute to more effective prevention measures.