Criminal Records
So-called "national" databases inaccessible to non-governmental users. See “National Criminal Background Checks: Myths, Realities & Resources” by Jackie Walters.
Visiting the Sheriff’s Office in Person: Cuyahoga County felony arrest records can be obtained at the County Sheriff’s office. Cost = $6.00. Back to early 1970s. Still have to check with municipal courts or police departments for misdemeanors. To find other Ohio Sheriff’s departments: www.buckeyesheriffs.org.
Do docket search of individual courts - See Resources for Online Court Dockets and Court Webpages, Dockets and Briefs
Pay databases– LexisNexis, Westlaw, Openonline and Accurint enable searching over many jurisdictions at once. They may not pick up misdemeanors or all arrests. Examine the scope of database before paying to search.
- Lexis -Public Records>Find Filings>Criminal Records - includes statewide criminal court, department of corrections, county arrest records and county criminal court records. Coverage varies by state.
- Westlaw - Criminal Records ALL - contains records derived from State court filings, State Departments of Corrections and Departments of Public Safety, Sex Offender Registries, U.S. District Court filings, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control . Coverage varies by state. Databases also for individual state, federal convictions only and sex offender registry. Arrest records not on the law school plan.
Free Internet Databases
Criminalsearches.com: Searches across numerous states and counties. Currently does not include all courts/counties. - Federal Bureau of Prisons (Incarcerated 1982 to present. Minimal info.)
- Ohio Dept of Corrections Offenders sentenced to serve time in a STATE facility.
- Corrections.com – Links to other states’ databases.
- Policereports.us - although few Ohio cities provide their police reports via this database.
- Federal denied persons list
- Sex offender databases:
- National Sex Offender Public Registry: Search for names of sex offenders in multiple state databases at once.
- FBI's State Sex Offender Registries: Links to state sex offender databases.
- Family Watchdog - Find offenders nationwide by street or offender name
Other ideas:
- Phoenix Research charges $6-7 per county for an on-site criminal records check.
- Ohio Attorney General’s Office WebCheck: For fee, need fingerprints and driver’s license. Arrests for felonies and escalating misdemeanors. Escalating misdemeanor means any offense classified as a misdemeanor on the first offense and a felony on subsequent offenses.
- The concealed carry list may be a way to clear people, as one must have no misdemeanors of violence. - http://sheriff.cuyahogacounty.us/ccw.asp. However, the list must be inspected in person and can not be copied. R.C. 2923.129(B)(2)(a). Also, you need to be a journalist to access! See Ohio Attorney General Opinion 2007-039.
- Online dockets – only yields results if defendant is indicted. Check Pacer (federal) and state court dockets. KnowX can search multiple dockets at once in 49 states for only 2.95. It costs more to retrieve a docket record - $7.95 for one, $19.95 for multiple records. You can always do the search, and then go to the court’s website and look at the docket for free.
- Newspapers - Lexis (ALLNWS or other) and Westlaw (ALLNEWS or other) , America's Newspapers: Newsbank and many more available to CSU students. Also available via the Cleveland Public Library. Voyager provides links to free newspapers on the web.
Links Checkes, SA, 5-7-09