How to Search Someone's Criminal Record in See If Someone Has

Q: Does an arrest mean someone has a criminal conviction?

No. An arrest does not establish guilt. The related court case and final disposition should be reviewed to determine whether a conviction occurred.

Q: Can I request another person's FBI rap sheet?

An ordinary private requester cannot order another person's FBI Identity History Summary. The FBI's public Identity History Summary process is designed for individuals to obtain their own fingerprint-based record.

Q: How do I find federal criminal cases?

Use PACER. Search the specific federal court if it is known, or use the nationwide PACER Case Locator when the filing court is unknown.

Q: How do I find out whether someone is in federal prison?

Use the Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator. It contains information about federal inmates incarcerated from 1982 to the present.

Q: Why might an old criminal case not appear online?

Older records may not be digitized, a record may be sealed or expunged, the case may be in another jurisdiction, or the public online system may not include that record type.

Q: Can I use a public criminal-record search to make a hiring or tenant decision?

Employment and tenant screening can involve federal, state and local requirements. When a consumer reporting company supplies the report, the Fair Credit Reporting Act may require authorization, notices and dispute procedures. A basic public-record search is not automatically a legally compliant screening process.

U.S. public-record search guide

Start with the right official record source

There is no single free government website that shows every person’s complete criminal history across every U.S. state, county and federal court. The most reliable approach is to search the jurisdictions where the person lived or where the alleged case occurred, then verify possible matches against official court, state criminal-history, corrections and federal records.

Coverage: United States Official-source focus: courts and government agencies Information checked: September 2026

Quick answer: Begin with the person’s state court system. Then check the state’s official criminal-history repository if it permits public searches, county/local courts where necessary, the state Department of Corrections, PACER for federal cases, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons for federal custody. Always confirm that a record belongs to the correct person before relying on it.

State/local case

Search court records

Best starting point for charges, court events, dispositions and convictions.

State criminal history

Check the state repository

Availability varies by state; some public systems are conviction-only or restricted.

Federal case

Search PACER

Federal district, appellate and bankruptcy court records are separate from state courts.

Custody

Check corrections

Use a state DOC for state prisoners and BOP for federal inmates.

Collect a few details before searching

A name alone is often not enough. Common names can return dozens or hundreds of unrelated people, while older court records may use a former name or a slightly different spelling.

Use as many of these details as you legitimately know:

full legal first and last name
middle name or middle initial
former, maiden or previous names
approximate date of birth
state where the person lived
county or city connected with the possible case
approximate year of the arrest or court case
court case number, if already known

Do not identify someone by name alone. Two people can share the same name and even the same birth year. Compare the court location, age or date of birth when public, case dates, middle name and other lawful identifiers before deciding that a record belongs to the person you are researching.

A practical nationwide search process

Because criminal records in the United States are decentralized, the most reliable search works from the local level outward instead of relying on a generic “nationwide background search.”

1 Find the jurisdiction Identify the state and, if possible, county connected with the person or event.

2 Search courts Use the official state judiciary or county court system.

3 Check state history Use the state’s official criminal-history repository when public access exists.

4 Check corrections Search state DOC or local jail systems when incarceration is relevant.

5 Check federal records Use PACER and BOP if a federal case or federal custody is possible.

Identify every likely state

Start with states where the person currently lives, previously lived, worked or where you know a possible arrest or case occurred. Criminal cases usually remain in the jurisdiction where they were filed.

Open the official state court website

Look for terms such as “Case Search,” “Court Records,” “Case Lookup,” “Docket Search” or “Public Access.” Avoid assuming a commercial people-search website is the official court system.

Repeat the search at county level if needed

Some states provide statewide court searching while others leave significant records with individual counties, clerks of court or municipal courts.

Check the state’s criminal-history agency

Depending on the state, this may be the State Police, Department of Public Safety, Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice or another centralized records agency.

Check corrections if incarceration is relevant

A state’s Department of Corrections often has a separate offender or inmate locator. County jail records usually remain with the county sheriff or local corrections agency.

Search federal sources separately

State court databases generally do not include federal prosecutions. Use PACER for federal court cases and the Bureau of Prisons locator for federal custody records.

Read the final disposition

Do not stop when you find an arrest or charge. Determine whether the charge was dismissed, resulted in acquittal, conviction, diversion, deferred disposition or another outcome.

Search official state court records first

For most people, the official court system is the most practical place to begin because court records can show whether criminal charges were actually filed and how the case progressed.

The U.S. government’s federal, state, territory, county and municipal court directory is a useful starting point when you do not already know the correct judiciary website.

Find the official court system

What to look for after opening a state court website

Do not stop at the judiciary home page. Look for a public access tool with a name such as:

case search
case lookup
online docket
criminal case search
public court records
court records search
party search
clerk records

Some states are centralized; others are not. A statewide judiciary search may cover most trial courts in one state, while another state may require separate searches of county clerks or individual court systems. Follow the structure of the official judiciary rather than assuming every state works the same way.

What a court search may reveal

Case details

Charges and filing

Court, case number, filing date, alleged offense and sometimes statutory citations.

Case history

Hearings and docket

Court appearances, motions, pleas, orders and chronological docket entries.

Outcome

Disposition

Whether charges were dismissed, resolved by plea, resulted in conviction, acquittal or another disposition.

Check the state’s official criminal-history repository

Court databases and state criminal-history repositories are not necessarily the same thing. A state’s central criminal-history agency may collect fingerprint-supported arrest and disposition information submitted by law-enforcement agencies and courts.

The FBI maintains an official State Identification Bureau directory showing the central criminal-history agency for each state.

Find a state criminal-history agency

Public-access rules vary by state. Finding the correct state agency does not mean you can automatically obtain another person’s complete fingerprint-based criminal history. Some states provide public name-based conviction searches, some provide broader records, some charge a fee, and some limit detailed records to the subject of the record or authorized requesters.

When a state history search is especially useful

you want a broader statewide search rather than one county
the state offers an official public name-based criminal-history service
you found a court case and want another official source for verification
you need to distinguish a court docket from a formal state criminal-history record

Search the county or city when statewide results are incomplete

Criminal prosecutions often begin in local trial courts. Depending on the state, the official record may be maintained by a county clerk, clerk of circuit court, superior court, district court, municipal court or another local court office.

How to identify the correct county

Use the location of the alleged offense or arrest—not simply the person’s current address. Someone who lives in one county may have been arrested or prosecuted in another.

If you know the state but not the county, use the state’s official court website first. USA.gov also maintains a directory of local governments by state.

Practical tip: Once you find one real case, save its exact court name and case number. Those two details make later searches, copy requests and disposition verification much easier than repeated name searches.

Arrest records and court records answer different questions

An arrest record usually originates with the law-enforcement agency that made the arrest. A court record begins when a matter is filed with a court. The two records can therefore show different information.

Record type	Common source	What it may show	Important caution
Arrest record	Police / sheriff	Arrest date, alleged offense, booking or custody information	An arrest does not establish guilt.
Booking record	County jail / sheriff	Custody status, booking date, listed charges, bond information	Charges can later change or be dismissed.
Court case	State or local court	Filed charges, hearings, orders, disposition and sentence	Read the final disposition.
Criminal history	State repository	Content depends heavily on state law and public-access rules	May not equal the complete court history.

Finding a recent arrest

If an event happened very recently, search the official website of the police department, county sheriff or jail serving the location. Court records may not yet be searchable or may not yet show the final charging decision.

Useful terms on local government websites include jail roster, inmate search, booking search, arrest log, custody search and public records request.

Check state prison and corrections records

If you are trying to determine whether someone is or was incarcerated in a state prison, search the state’s Department of Corrections rather than the federal Bureau of Prisons.

USA.gov maintains an official directory of state departments of corrections.

Find a state corrections department

State prison is not county jail. A person held in a county jail before trial or serving a local sentence may not appear in the state DOC locator. Search the relevant sheriff or county corrections system separately.

Corrections locators commonly allow searches by name and may display an offender number, custody location, sentence information, supervision status or projected release information, depending on the state’s public-access rules.

Search federal criminal cases separately with PACER

A federal prosecution will not normally appear as a state criminal case. The federal judiciary’s official electronic public-access service is PACER.

Known federal court

Search the specific court

If you know where the case was filed, PACER says searching the specific federal court gives access to case information updated as records are filed.

Court unknown

Use the PACER Case Locator

The Case Locator searches a nationwide index of federal appellate, bankruptcy and district court cases and is updated daily.

Search federal court records

Current PACER cost

As of September 2026, PACER lists an electronic-access charge of $0.10 per page. Most case-specific documents are capped at $3 per document. PACER also says quarterly charges of $30 or less are currently waived.

Upcoming change: PACER has announced a temporary increase beginning January 1, 2027 to $0.12 per page, with the quarterly automatic fee-waiver threshold increasing to $40. Always verify the live PACER fee page before relying on an old fee figure.

Current pricing: PACER Pricing: How Fees Work.

Check federal prison records with the Bureau of Prisons

The Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator searches federal inmates incarcerated from 1982 to the present.

Open the BOP Inmate Locator

You can search by a federal identifying number or by name. The BOP explains that its database contains federal inmates; it does not serve as a general locator for people held by state prisons or ordinary county jails.

Do not treat a BOP record as proof of a federal conviction by itself. The Bureau explains that its custody records can include some people who were held before trial, as material witnesses or under other circumstances without necessarily serving a federal sentence. Check the associated federal court case for the legal outcome.

For federal inmate records before 1982, the BOP directs researchers toward the National Archives because many older records are held there rather than in the current locator.

Use the official national sex-offender search when relevant

The Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW) is coordinated by the U.S. Department of Justice and searches public sex-offender registry information supplied by the states, District of Columbia, U.S. territories and participating tribes.

Search NSOPW

This is a specialized registry search. A person not appearing in NSOPW should not be interpreted as having no criminal record. The registry covers qualifying public sex-offender information, not every criminal offense.

Can you request someone else’s FBI criminal record?

Generally, no. The FBI states that a private person can request a copy of their own Identity History Summary—commonly called a rap sheet—but the FBI does not provide another person’s Identity History Summary to an unrelated private requester.

An FBI Identity History Summary is fingerprint-based. It is designed for the subject of the record to review their own information, obtain certain clearances or challenge inaccuracies.

FBI Identity History Summary

If you want to check your own FBI record

The FBI currently charges $18 for an Identity History Summary request. Fingerprints are required. Electronic applicants may submit fingerprints at participating U.S. Post Office locations or mail an appropriate fingerprint card as instructed by the FBI.

Important difference: Searching public court records for another person is not the same process as obtaining that person’s FBI fingerprint-based Identity History Summary.

Do not stop at the first arrest or charge you find

Criminal-record research is most useful when you determine how a case ended. Search results can contain allegations, pending charges or old arrest information that does not establish a conviction.

Term	What it generally means	What you should do next
Arrested	The person was taken into custody or cited by law enforcement.	Look for a resulting court case and final disposition.
Charged	A criminal allegation was formally filed.	Do not assume conviction; inspect later docket entries.
Pending	The matter has not reached its final outcome.	Check the most recent court event and hearing information.
Dismissed	The court/prosecution ended a charge without conviction on that charge.	Read the complete disposition because multiple charges may exist.
Acquitted / Not guilty	The person was not convicted of that charge after adjudication.	Do not characterize the case as a conviction.
Convicted / Guilty	A conviction was entered.	Review sentencing and later appellate or post-conviction activity if relevant.
Sealed / Expunged	Public access has been restricted under applicable law or court order.	Do not assume missing public information never existed.

What if every search says “no records found”?

A blank search result is useful information, but it is not proof that a person has never been arrested or involved in a criminal case anywhere in the United States.

Try these checks before concluding the search

search the full legal name and common variations
try with and without the middle name
check maiden or previous names
search each state where a relevant event may have happened
identify the county where an arrest or prosecution occurred
check older courthouse records if the online system has a date cutoff
search state corrections separately
search PACER if federal prosecution is possible

Why a legitimate record might not appear online

Older records

Some courts digitized only newer cases, leaving older files at the courthouse or archives.

Sealing or expungement

State law or a court order may restrict public access to all or part of a record.

Different jurisdiction

The case may exist in a different county, state, municipal court or federal court.

Name mismatch

The case may be indexed under a former name, middle name, different spelling or alias.

Juvenile restriction

Juvenile records are commonly subject to stronger confidentiality rules than adult records.

No case was filed

An arrest or investigation does not always result in a criminal court filing.

How to avoid matching the record to the wrong person

False matches are one of the biggest practical risks in name-based criminal-record research. A common name can produce records belonging to several unrelated people.

Before treating a result as belonging to the person you are checking, compare:

middle name or middle initial
date or year of birth when lawfully public
county and state
address information if legitimately disclosed
known age at the time of the case
case chronology
official identifying number where available
multiple government sources when the stakes are high

Do not publish or act on an unverified match. Matching a common name from a docket or jail search to the wrong person can seriously misrepresent someone’s history.

A public-record search is not automatically an employment or tenant background check

If you are simply researching publicly available government records, you are performing a public-record search. Different legal requirements can apply when criminal-history information is obtained or used for employment, housing, credit or other eligibility decisions.

The Federal Trade Commission explains that when an employer obtains a background report from a company in the business of compiling background information, the Fair Credit Reporting Act can require disclosure, written authorization and specific procedures before and after adverse action.

Tenant screening reports are also consumer reports and may contain criminal-history information. Federal law gives applicants rights to learn which screening company supplied a report and to dispute inaccurate information.

Do not use an ordinary public-record page as a substitute for a legally compliant screening process. Employment, tenant, credit, insurance, licensing and similar decisions may involve the FCRA plus additional state or local restrictions. Requirements depend on the purpose and jurisdiction.

Official guidance: FTC — Background Checks: What Employers Need to Know and CFPB — Rental Background Checks.

When you need proof, request the official court record

A screenshot or copied search result may be enough for casual research, but it is not necessarily an official certified court record.

When documentation is needed for a legal, licensing, immigration or other formal purpose, contact the clerk or court administrator that maintains the case and ask what type of copy is required.

Research

Online docket

Useful for finding and understanding a public case, but not always accepted as formal proof.

Document

Plain copy

A copy of a court filing or order without certification, where available.

Formal use

Certified copy

A copy authenticated by the court clerk according to that court’s procedures and fee schedule.

Search the official court first, identify the case number, then use that court’s copy-request instructions. This is usually faster and more accurate than asking a clerk to search from only a name.

Free sources versus paid criminal-record searches

Source	Typical cost	Best use	Main limitation
State court portal	Often free to search	Filed criminal cases and dispositions	Coverage varies by state/court.
County clerk/court	Search may be free; copies may cost	Local cases and older records	Requires knowing the correct county.
State criminal-history agency	Varies	Statewide history where public access is authorized	Public scope differs by state.
State DOC	Usually free online	State prison/corrections status	Does not replace court-case research.
PACER	Usage-based federal court fee	Federal cases	Does not search state criminal cases.
BOP locator	Free	Federal custody from 1982 onward	Federal inmates only; custody does not itself establish conviction.
NSOPW	Free	Public sex-offender registry search	Specialized registry, not full criminal history.
FBI Identity History Summary	$18 currently	Your own fingerprint-based FBI record	You cannot privately order another person’s summary.

A faster search when you know where the event happened

If you already know the state or county connected with a possible arrest, skip broad web searches. Go directly through this order:

State judiciary

Search the official case portal for the person’s name or case number.

County court

Check the local clerk if statewide access is incomplete or older records are missing.

Sheriff / jail

Use for recent booking or custody information.

Corrections

Use DOC if the person may be serving a state prison sentence or supervision term.

This usually beats a generic nationwide name search. Official records become much easier to verify once you know the state, county and approximate year.

Questions people commonly have before checking a criminal record

1. Can I legally look up another person’s criminal record?

Many adult court records and other government records are publicly accessible, but access varies by jurisdiction and record type. Sealed, expunged, juvenile and other protected records may not be publicly available. Separate rules can apply when information is used for employment, housing or another regulated decision.

2. Is there one free website that searches every criminal record in the United States?

No single free public government database contains every state, county, local and federal criminal record. State court systems, local courts, criminal-history repositories, corrections agencies and federal courts maintain different records.

3. What is the best free place to start?

Start with the official court system for the state where the person lived or where the possible offense occurred. USA.gov provides links for finding state and local court systems.

4. Does an arrest mean someone has a criminal conviction?

No. An arrest means law enforcement took action; it does not establish guilt. Search the resulting court case and read the final disposition to determine whether a conviction occurred.

5. Can I request another person’s FBI rap sheet?

Not as an ordinary private requester. The FBI’s Identity History Summary process allows an individual to obtain their own fingerprint-based record. The FBI states that it does not provide another person’s Identity History Summary to an unrelated private citizen.

6. How do I find federal criminal cases?

Use PACER. If you know the federal court, search that court directly. If you do not know which federal court handled the matter, use the nationwide PACER Case Locator.

7. How do I find out whether someone is in federal prison?

Use the Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator. It covers federal inmates incarcerated from 1982 to the present. State prisoners and most county-jail detainees are not covered by the BOP locator.

8. Why might an old criminal case not appear online?

The court may not have digitized older records, the case may be sealed or expunged, it may be filed in another jurisdiction, or the online search may not include the relevant record type. Contact the clerk of the court when older records are important.

9. How can I tell whether a criminal record belongs to the right person?

Compare multiple identifiers such as middle name, age or date of birth when public, state, county, case dates and known history. Do not rely on a matching first and last name alone.

10. Can I use a public criminal-record search to make a hiring or tenant decision?

Employment and tenant screening can involve additional federal, state and local requirements. When a consumer reporting company provides the background report, the Fair Credit Reporting Act may require authorization, notices and dispute procedures. A basic public-record lookup is not automatically a compliant screening process.