Record types
Criminal Records: How the System Works
There’s no national criminal record search available to you. Everything sold as one is an aggregation of county court records, and the gaps in it are the whole problem.
Three different things, constantly confused
| Holds | Access | |
|---|---|---|
| State repository | Fingerprint-backed record for that state | Varies wildly — free to impossible |
| Court records | The case as filed in that county | Usually public, county by county |
| Commercial database | Aggregated court records, bought in bulk | Paid, and incomplete |
The repository is fingerprint-based, so it identifies the right person. Court and commercial records are name-based, so they identify anyone with a similar name and miss anyone who used a different one.
What the states actually allow
The spread is enormous, and it’s the single biggest variable in this work.
| State | Public access to the repository |
|---|---|
| Texas | $3 name search, instant, anyone |
| Rhode Island | $5, includes pending prosecutions |
| Florida | $24, instant, anyone |
| New Hampshire | $25, no notary for the public check |
| Vermont | $30 on anyone with a name and date of birth |
| Maine | $31, includes pending cases under a year old |
| Massachusetts | $50, convictions only, short lookback windows |
| Connecticut | $75 repository — but free court conviction search by name |
| New York | $95 through the court administration |
| California | Not available on another person at any price |
Eric’s criminal records table on SkipLook lists the thirty-six states that allow a public statewide search with the current fee for each.
Decide which question you’re answering
“Does this person have a record anywhere” can’t be answered. Nobody can answer it, and anyone who says otherwise is selling something.
“Does this person have a conviction in this state” and “what happened in this specific case” are both answerable.
Run the state repository if the state allows it
Where it’s available it’s the most reliable single source, because it’s fingerprint-backed and covers the whole state.
Read what it excludes. Most repositories return convictions only — no dismissals, no acquittals, and often nothing pending.
Then search the courts county by county
Court records catch what the repository excludes: pending cases, dismissals, continuances, and everything in counties that report inconsistently.
Search every county the subject has lived in. A single-county search isn’t a criminal history.
Understand what commercial databases really are
They buy court records in bulk from the counties that sell them. Counties that don’t sell are simply absent. Updates lag by weeks or months. Expunged records sometimes persist long after the court removed them.
They’re a useful pointer to where to look. They aren’t a source you cite.
Always confirm at the court
Whatever a database returns, pull the actual case from the court before it goes in a report. Confirm the identifiers, the charge, and above all the disposition.
Databases routinely show a charge without its outcome.
Report dispositions accurately
An arrest isn’t a charge. A charge isn’t a conviction. A dismissal, an acquittal, a continuance without a finding and a deferred adjudication are all different things and none of them is a conviction.
Reporting any of them as a conviction is defamatory, and if you’re doing anything that touches employment or tenancy screening you’re into FCRA territory with real liability.
What nobody has lawful access to
NCIC — the FBI’s national database — is restricted to law enforcement for criminal justice purposes. No private investigator, no data vendor and no background screening company has lawful access to it. Any service claiming a “national criminal database search” is selling aggregated county records under a misleading name.
Say what you searched. A report should state which repositories and which counties were checked, on what date, and what was excluded. “No record found” without that context is a statement you can’t defend.