How to Find Free Ohio Criminal Records

The state of Ohio, like many other states, gives its citizens the right to access and view its criminal records. Free Ohio criminal records are available for public use from a number of online sources. The records include details of all the criminals who are under supervision or have been released from incarceration. This is done to ensure public safety, as with the help of these records every citizen can be aware of any offender living in his or her vicinity. The criminal records of Ohio are preserved and maintained by the different courts and administrative agencies functioning under the Ohio Judicial System.

Ohio Court Records

The Ohio criminal records are kept at each of the state courts. In addition to functioning as courts, these also work to maintain and preserve every record related to the criminal offenders living in the state. The municipal and county courts of Ohio are the primary courts of records. The court of common pleas, the only trial court in Ohio, is also another court of records that keeps details about the criminal cases filed in Ohio. The cases then move to the court of appeals. These are the cases which review the decision of the lower court if the losing party is not satisfied with the decision of the lower court. These courts are also responsible for maintaining the records of all the criminal cases. The Supreme Court of Ohio is the highest judicial authority when it comes to a criminal case. Information with regard to all cases that move up to the Supreme Court is also kept under proper maintenance.

Supreme Court of Ohio

The free Ohio criminal records can be obtained from the courts of records' websites. The details about the cases which have been heard or are being heard by the Ohio Supreme Court can be obtained from http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Clerk/ecms/. The Supreme Court of Ohio database includes details of cases that have been filed on or after January 1, 1985, as well as attorney discipline cases that have been filed on or after January 1, 1989.

When visiting this site, you need to select and enter a particular search type and then click the 'search' button. You can search for a particular case which has been heard at the Supreme Court using the Supreme Court case number. The Party Name-Person/Entity, Attorney in Case, Prior Case Information or other information may also be of help when you are looking for a case heard at the Supreme Court.

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is responsible for maintaining a database of criminal offenders who are under incarceration or who are under the supervision of the Department. You can search for offenders at http://www.drc.ohio.gov/OffenderSearch/Search.aspx. The various search criteria help to narrow down the search and give appropriate results. If you have both the first and the last names of the offender, the search becomes much easier. Otherwise, you can search with the last name only. This search yields results comprising all the persons, under supervision or serving imprisonment, with the same last name.

There are a number of methods by which individuals can search for offenders from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction database. When you search using a specific county, the complete list of offenders located in the county can be obtained. If you want to search for offenders who are under the status of ‘APA Supervision’ or are ‘Violators at Large’, you need to use the Residential County or Zip Code search. This search gives you information about the individuals who are under parole or post-release control, as well as those who have been recorded as absconding from this kind of supervision. Details with regard to the free Ohio criminal records can be obtained from the database available from the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction of Ohio.

The next parole board hearing can also be a clue in your search for criminal offenders. If you know about the hearing date, all you need to do is enter it and the list of all offenders who are scheduled to have a hearing that day would appear. You need to enter the year followed by the month in order to get required results.

Every offender in the state of Ohio is denoted by a number. If you know that particular number it becomes easier to locate the individual. The male offenders have numbers comprising of 6 digits while the female inmates have a 5-digit number. When entering a number of a female offender, you need to insert a '0' so as to make the number a 6-digit one. The number denoting the inmates of Ohio prisons have a prefix; while the prefixes ‘A’ and ‘R’ are used for male inmates, the prefix ‘W’ is used to denote women inmates of Ohio.

Ohio Electronic Sex Offender Registration and Notification

One of the chief functions of Ohio’s Attorney General’s Office is to maintain the Electronic Sex Offender Registration and Notification (eSORN). This is a database of all the registered sex offenders of the state. The database is formed on the basis of the registered sex offenders enlisted in the 88 county sheriff’s offices in Ohio, as well as the 32 records offices of the correctional facility under the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Along with this information, sex offenders who have not been registered or are on the list of Ohio’s Most Wanted Fugitives are also available from eSORN.

You can search eSORN at http://www.esorn.ag.state.oh.us/Secured/p21_2.aspx. You can also choose to receive alerts if a registered sex offender moves within a one kilometer radius of your neighborhood. There is another facility from eSORN that gives you the opportunity to check for all sex offenders who are located within the radius of one kilometer from your home or workplace. All you need to do is fill out a form with your name and address and an automatic scan is done to give you the list of any or all sex offenders located within one kilometer. If you suspect someone, you can offer tips to investigators using eSORN as well.

The sex offenders of Ohio need to register with the county sheriff’s office. The information that needs to be given at the time of registration includes the full name of the offender, the address, the classification, the particular offense for which the individual was convicted, along with a photograph. The fingerprint of the sex offender also forms part of the free Ohio criminal records. It is the responsibility of the sheriff’s office to share the information about the sex offender with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. This information is then archived and posted on eSORN for public access and viewing.

With the rise in the number of criminal cases it is necessary to ensure your family’s safety. The number of murder cases in Ohio, as registered in 2007, was 490, while the number of forcible rape was 4099. If you are a resident of Ohio and want to know about free Ohio criminal records all you need is to check the different online sources. The different court of records websites and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction websites are the major sources of information in this regard. They offer all criminal records for free and the search procedure is also convenient.