Guide

How to check if someone has a criminal record

Most criminal records in the United States are public. The catch is that there is no single free national database: records live with the courts and agencies that created them, which means you have to know where to look. Here is how to do it yourself, and what each source will and will not tell you.

Start with what you know

Before searching anything, write down the person's full name (including middle name if you have it), approximate age, and every city or state they have lived in. Criminal records are indexed by name, so common names return many false matches. The more identifying details you have, the more confident you can be that a record actually belongs to the person you are checking.

Search state court portals

Most states run a free online case search covering some or all of their trial courts. These portals list criminal cases by defendant name, usually with the charge, disposition, and case date. Search every state the person has lived in, not just the current one. Coverage varies: some states include every county, others only some, and a few offer no free online search at all, in which case you need the county level.

Check the county, not just the state

Criminal cases are filed in county courts, and county clerk records are the ground truth. If a state portal has gaps, go to the website of the county clerk or clerk of courts for each county the person has lived in. Many offer free name searches; some require a small fee or an in-person request. If a record matters to a decision you are making, confirm it with the county clerk directly rather than relying on any aggregated source.

Federal cases: PACER

Federal crimes (fraud, interstate offenses, federal drug charges) do not appear in state portals. They live in PACER, the federal courts' public records system. It charges 10 cents per page, but fees are waived if you use less than $30 per quarter, which covers most personal lookups.

The sex offender registry

The Department of Justice runs a genuinely free national search at NSOPW.gov that covers all state registries at once. It takes about a minute and is worth doing in any dating or roommate situation.

Know the limits

• Name matches are not identity matches. A record under the same name may belong to a different person. Verify with middle name, date of birth, or address history before drawing conclusions.
• Sealed and expunged records will not appear, and juvenile records are almost never public.
• A clean search is not proof of a clean history. The person may have records in a state you did not check, under a different name, or in a county that does not publish online.
• Do not use what you find for hiring or housing decisions. Those are regulated by the FCRA and require a licensed consumer reporting agency.

Doing all of this manually takes a few hours per state. If you would rather have it done at once, A Little Birdie searches court records across all 50 states along with social media, licenses, and news, and flags which records actually match the person you searched.