How to Find New Jersey Criminal Records

New Jersey criminal records are generally divided into two broad categories to facilitate their creation and storage. Records pertaining to common crimes such as theft, aggravated assault, drugs and others are usually maintained with the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Records of sexual crimes on the other hand are stored in the New Jersey Sex Offender Registry at http://www.nj.gov/njsp/info/reg_http://www.peoplepublicrecords.org/sexoffend.html. Two separate official websites exist for each of the two departments in the state. The United States Legislature requires that all the criminal records maintained within New Jersey be made available to the public through these websites.

Sources of New Jersey Criminal Records and Information Obtained

There are a wide variety of sources for obtaining New Jersey criminal records. Several private websites offer services to the user free of charge. However, in most situations the information obtained from such websites is unreliable and inaccurate. The government websites like http://www.newjersey.gov/ are a far better choice for accessing any New Jersey criminal record.

Citizens have the option to access these criminal records from their homes. All they need to do is give the New Jersey Department of Corrections official website a visit. Clicking on the ‘offender search’ link on the left side of the home page will direct the users into the New Jersey Criminal Records Repository. Upon accepting the condition which appears on this page, the users are provided with the option to search for criminal records. The search requires the citizens to provide the first name, last name, sex and approximate age of the individual. To increase the relevancy of their search, the users also have the option to select the hair color, eye color, race and the county where the crime occurred.

The users of this search option should keep in mind that the accuracy of results obtained depends largely on the accuracy of the inputs provided. Hence, they should make it a point to gather the required information before actually proceeding with the search.

Any New Jersey criminal record mainly contains information regarding the nature of crimes committed by an individual along with their detailed criminal history. Though the law makes it compulsory for all records to be made public, confidential matters affecting national security are kept secret.

Uses of Information Obtained from the New Jersey Records

Recent increasing crime rates have made it mandatory for every responsible citizen of New Jersey to be aware of the crimes taking place in their locality. For instance, the New Jersey criminal records are being used more and more to perform a background check on an individual or even an organization. It is recommended that the citizens even perform a character check on in-home employees before hiring them. Experts suggest that such precautionary measures reduce the occurrence of crime in society.

Any New Jersey criminal record must be used for the sole purpose of getting information about the potential threats which exist in the locality. This helps the citizens to exercise necessary caution while dealing with others in their day to day lives. Moreover, it also helps them protect their loved ones. However, under no circumstances can any citizen of New Jersey use this information to harass or discriminate against any other citizen of the state. Any such attempt is dealt with severely in the court of law, and can result in 3 years imprisonment along with a fine of $15,000.