Where to Find State Misdemeanor Records

You must keep in mind before conducting a misdemeanor records search that it could lead to dead ends for a variety of reasons. All misdemeanor records are recorded by the municipal or county courts where the conviction took place, but those records are not always passed on to other reporting agencies within the state. Thus, an online criminal records search may not return results for misdemeanor crimes which were not reported to other state agencies.

That is why it is always a good idea to begin your search with the court of record—in other words, the court where the conviction took place. Some local courts or local law enforcement agencies have online database searches for all trials or convictions in the jurisdiction, but most will not be online. To avoid frustration, simply go to the courthouse and talk to the clerk of courts or the law enforcement administrator to request misdemeanor records.

What You Will Find in Your State Misdemeanor Records

Misdemeanor records may contain any or all of the following information, depending on where you access the document. Online searches may contain less information than an on-site records search.

•    The date of the offense
•    The case number
•    Phone number or Do Not Call list entry
•    Appearance date if the person was required to go to court
•    Charges or the crime the person is accused of committing
•    Convictions
•    Penalties such as fines or jail time
•    Age or date of birth
•    Ethnicity may be included, but not always

On-site misdemeanor records searches may also include court docket documents or even investigative reports, if those are considered public information by your state. As you can see, misdemeanor records can contain a wealth of information you might find useful during a criminal records search.

How Misdemeanor Records are Created

Dockets are kept in both paper files and electronically, sometimes consisting of audio or video recordings of trial proceedings. When local courts pass information to other reporting agencies, they condense the detailed information from the court docket and only give relevant details. This is what you will find from a criminal records search; most of the details have been left out and only the most important information is passed on.

There is always a lag time in this process. Local courts must first record the information themselves, then they must pass it on to other agencies. Since in most states local courts are not required by law to report to other agencies within any certain period of time, they may choose to update only occasionally (as long as six months in some areas). This may result in a records database being quite far behind the actual court reporting the data.

Because of this lag time, if you know a misdemeanor was committed and the person was convicted but this does not show up in a database or court documents search, search again in a week or longer. You may find what you are looking for at a later time.
 

State-Specific Misdemeanor Records and Information:

California Misdemeanor

Florida Misdemeanor

Illinois Misdemeanor

Michigan Misdemeanor

Ohio Misdemeanor

Texas Misdemeanor