Trust Center & Accessibility

Last reviewed: September 16, 2026

The criminal-record.org/ Trust Center brings together the standards that govern how this website researches official sources, explains criminal-record access, corrects errors, separates commercial content from government information, protects visitor privacy, and supports accessible use.

Our public-interest commitment

Criminal-record systems are difficult to navigate because authority is divided among different courts and agencies. Our editorial function is to reduce that friction without pretending to be the agency itself. Readers should be able to understand who controls a record, what a source covers, how to reach it, and what limitations apply.

Independent, non-government website

criminal-record.org/ is independently operated and is not a government agency. We do not use government seals, agency names, or official terminology in a way intended to misrepresent ownership or endorsement. When we link to a government page, we identify it because it is relevant to the reader's task.

Trust principles

• Authority before convenience: find the agency or court that actually controls the information.
• Primary sources before summaries: prefer government instructions, portals, forms, rules, and notices.
• Verification before publication: manually inspect important links and user paths rather than relying only on search snippets.
• Context before conclusions: distinguish arrest, booking, charge, case, disposition, conviction, custody, and certified history information.
• Correction before defensiveness: fix confirmed factual errors and outdated links.
• Transparency before monetization: clearly distinguish commercial relationships from official government pathways.
• Responsible use before convenience: warn readers when FCRA, discrimination, privacy, or legal-use issues may apply.
• Accessibility by design: structure pages so core information is usable across devices and assistive technologies.

Our core policies

• About criminal-record.org/ — mission, research model, manual checking, and editorial purpose.
• Contact, Corrections & Removal Requests — how to report an error and the difference between changing our page and changing a government record.
• Editorial Standards, Source Verification & Update Policy — source hierarchy, verification checklist, update triggers, conflicts, and corrections.
• FCRA & Responsible Use Notice — consumer-reporting boundaries, identity matching, arrest-versus-conviction context, and lawful use.
• Disclaimer & Terms of Use — non-affiliation, acceptable use, prohibited use, external-link limitations, and liability terms.
• Privacy, Cookies & Data Choices — contact data, technical logs, cookies, analytics, advertising technology, security, and privacy choices.
• Advertising & Affiliate Disclosure — commercial transparency and separation between paid services and official sources.

Accessibility commitment

We want the website to be usable by people with a wide range of devices, abilities, and assistive technologies. As the site is built and maintained, our accessibility goals include:

• logical heading hierarchy;
• descriptive links instead of ambiguous “click here” wording where practical;
• keyboard-accessible navigation and controls;
• visible keyboard focus;
• text and controls with reasonable contrast;
• responsive layouts that do not require horizontal scrolling for ordinary content;
• support for browser zoom and text enlargement;
• alternative text for meaningful images;
• labels and instructions for forms;
• tables that remain understandable on smaller screens;
• avoidance of essential information that is conveyed only by color; and
• respect for reduced-motion preferences when animation is used.

External accessibility

We cannot control the accessibility of a state court, county portal, sheriff website, PDF form, or commercial destination. When an official site offers an alternative method such as telephone, mail, or in-person service, our guides may include it so readers are not unnecessarily dependent on one digital interface.

Report an accessibility barrier

Email contact@criminal-record.org with:

• the criminal-record.org/ page URL;
• the feature or content you were trying to use;
• what happened;
• your browser or assistive technology, if you are comfortable sharing it; and
• the information you were trying to access.

We will use the report to investigate the barrier and look for a reasonable way to improve access.

Corrections and accountability

Government records and procedures change. Trust requires a visible correction path. We therefore publish a dedicated process for reporting outdated links, incorrect fees, wrong contact details, misleading descriptions, and other factual issues.

Our goal is not to defend old content simply because it was published earlier; it is to keep the guide aligned with the best current official source we can verify.

What a review date means

A page’s review date shows when its editorial content was last checked or materially updated. It does not mean we control the freshness of the external government database itself. Some official systems update in real time; others update on a schedule; others disclose no refresh interval.

How readers can evaluate one of our guides

A strong page should make it possible to answer the following questions:

1. Which agency or court is responsible?
2. What type of record does the source provide?
3. Is the link official, commercial, or operated by a vendor on behalf of government?
4. What steps are required to use the source?
5. What fees, identification requirements, or access limits are published?
6. Is there an online, mail, telephone, or in-person alternative?
7. What important limitations should the reader know before relying on the result?
8. How can the reader report an outdated instruction?

Authenticity over artificial completeness

We would rather tell a reader “the agency does not publish an exact processing time” than invent a number. We would rather explain that two official pages conflict than silently choose one. We would rather omit an unverified “local tip” than create a detail that sounds useful but cannot be supported.

Commercial transparency

If advertising or affiliate links are used, they should not be disguised as government buttons or official record portals. A reader should be able to distinguish the public-source path from an optional commercial product. See our dedicated disclosure for more information.

FCRA boundary

criminal-record.org/ is not designed to supply consumer reports or make eligibility decisions. If a reader's intended use involves employment, housing, credit, insurance, or another regulated decision, the reader should use an appropriate compliance process rather than treating an informational article as a screening report.

Privacy and minimal data collection

Our core function does not require visitors to submit Social Security numbers or identity profiles. We aim to limit data collection to ordinary website operation, security, analytics, advertising where enabled, and information a visitor voluntarily submits to contact us.

Contact

For corrections, source suggestions, accessibility problems, privacy questions, or trust-and-safety concerns, email contact@criminal-record.org.