How to Access Illinois Criminal Records

The Illinois criminal records are not only maintained with the Illinois State Police's Bureau of Identification, but also with the Illinois Department of Corrections. If you are a citizen of Illinois looking to perform a criminal records search just visit the following website:
http://www.idoc.state.il.us/subsections/search/default.asp. This is the official website of the Illinois Department of Corrections. This website requires that you enter the last name of the individual whose history you require in order to obtain their criminal records.

Information Needed to Search Criminal Records

The search for Illinois Criminal Records is possible using three parameters:
* Last Name
* IDOC# (This option requires you to enter the total number)
* Birth Date

The citizens of Illinois also have the option to contact the Department of Corrections over the phone at the following number:
217-558-2200
The government and law enforcement agencies of Illinois have the option to call 1-888-446-9103.

Procedure to Obtain Copies of Illinois Criminal Records

All Illinois criminal records are made available to the general public in accordance with the Uniform Conviction Information Act (UCIA). This law came into effect on January 1, 1991.  The users are presented with two options in order to get their hands on the Illinois criminal records in the State of Illinois. The first option requires the users to obtain a Conviction Information Request Form from the Bureau of Identification office. The forms usually come with a unique processing control number which prevents the form from being duplicated.

The Conviction Information Request forms are one of two types:
* The Non-Fingerprint Conviction Information Request Form (ISP6-405B)
* The Fingerprint conviction Information Request form (ISP6-404B)

The processing fee for the first category of forms is $16 while the second category of forms will cost you $20. The fee for the use of checks is $30. These forms eventually result in a search through the Illinois State Police criminal records database. Name, race, sex and date of birth are the key identifiers used for the search. However, in the case of the fingerprint forms, the fingerprint is matched with any present in the Illinois Police fingerprint database.

The forms can be obtained from the following address:

Illinois State Police, Department of Identification
260 North Chicago Street, Joliet, Illinois
Phone: (815) 740-5216.

This service is available from Monday to Friday during office hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

This information can also be accessed online. The steps to be followed are mentioned below:
* Type http://www.isp.state.il.us/crimhistory/crimhistoryhome.cfm in your address bar of your web browser.
* On the right hand side of this page, you will come across a menu titled ‘Electronic Conviction Inquiries’.
* Clicking on this link will direct you to the home page of the ‘FEESUB’ service of the Illinois State Police.
* The state of Illinois differs from other states as it does not permit the users to perform a direct search on their criminal database for security reasons. The Illinois State Police permit a name-based Uniform Conviction Information Act (UCIA) background check via email.
* The email address for making the online request is boi_customer_support@isp.state.il.us .
* The results are mailed backed to the applicant within 24 hours of the submission of the request.
*  It is recommended that while filing for an online request the applicants name their file with their numeric agency ID and a 3-digit file extension.
*  To facilitate the proper filling and submission of the electronic forms, the Illinois State Police have come up with the Electronic Entry Program. This program is provided to the citizens of Illinois free of charge.

Information Contained in the Illinois Criminal Records

To get an idea about the exact information available in Illinois criminal records you can go through http://www.isp.state.il.us/docs/5-727.pdf. This page contains a PDF document with a detailed description of the data provided in the records.

* The criminal records in Illinois contain the personal details such as the name of the criminal, the hair color, the eye color, the date of birth, height, sex, weight and race. 
* The case related information in the Illinois criminal records include the state identification number, the conviction status which indicates whether the crime is a felony or a misdemeanor, custodial status, custodial status date, alias names if any, date reported, scars, marks, tattoos, place of birth, driver's license number and the driver's license state.
* The SSN, the palm print of the convict, his or her photograph if available, basis of caution, the DCN, the date of arrest, class of arrest, decision date, statute citation, agency name, attorneys name, literal description, case number and the status can also be found in the report.

It must be remembered that a positive response is only generated in cases where the users provide the system with all the relevant input information. Any form which is incomplete, is rejected. The fees submitted along with the form are not refundable in such cases.

Conditions for Unavailability of Illinois Criminal Records

In some circumstances, the criminal records are not made available to the public even after following the normal rules and regulations. Such inquiries are said to have resulted in a ‘No Hit’ response. A ‘No Hit’ response may occur under the following circumstances:

* A request is made for a juvenile record which is only available if the individual was tried as an adult in the court of law.
* Any request for information from other states usually results in a ‘No Hit’ response.
* Class C misdemeanors do not fall under the jurisdiction of Illinois State Police and any request for such information is not entertained by the Illinois State Police’s ‘FEESUB’ service.
* In some situations, the conviction information does not make it into the Illinois State Police database. Naturally, the computer fails to retrieve data which is not even present in the database.
* The criminal records of the convict might have been expunged by the authorities and hence such records have been removed from the database.


The website http://www.idoc.state.il.us/subsections/reports/default.shtml also gives the citizens an idea about the records and statistics regarding crimes taking place in Illinois.