How to Find and Access West Virginia Criminal Records

The number of crimes has been on the rise all across the United States. West Virginia is no exception either. The advantages of searching for specific West Virginia criminal records are many. You can conduct the entire search from the comfort of your own home.

Reasons You Need Access to Criminal Records

Records from all the courts of the state are compiled together and you can simply log in to the various resources in order to obtain them. Although the statistics revealed by the FBI shows a steady decline of the crime rate in West Virginia, it is mandatory to keep tabs on the crimes being committed in your neighborhood. This will enable you to take adequate precautions as far as the safety of your children is concerned. Performing a background check will help you to learn all about the kinds of activities that your prospective employee has indulged in. Hiring domestic help including live-in nannies for your children will be much easier once you look up their details in the West Virginia criminal records resources.

Where to Find the Criminal Records

Most of the resources including the commercial ones will help you to obtain enough information about your target. The law enforcement agencies keep their own records and share their databases with the official judicial system as well. You can also approach the law enforcement agencies directly with requests for obtaining specific information. Going through the details of offenders from the West Virginia Division of Corrections is also possible if you are interested in acquiring information about the criminals currently on parole or are subject to correctional measures. You can log in to http://www.wvdoc.com/wvdoc/ or visit the WVDOC Central Office at 1409 Greenbrier Street, Charleston, WV 25311 for all relevant details.

Searching for an offender from the database is no big deal. You just have to enter the required information in order to receive a proper result. Entering either the first or the last name will enable you to receive the details of the criminal. This particular facility is provided by the State of West Virginia in accordance with the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act. 

The West Virginia State Police sex offender registry, http://www.wvstatepolice.com/sexoff/, on the other hand, will help you to gain information about all sex offenders currently registered by the enforcement agency. Searching by the last name, city, county or street name can return an unduly long list of offenders.

You can limit these appreciably if you conduct the search by combining a number of search parameters. Keeping a list of prisoners who have escaped from prison may help you to increase your security measures as well. Viewing a photograph of the offender’s face will also help you to identify the offender if he happens to be a resident of your neighborhood. You can check them out by logging in to http://www.wvf.state.wv.us/wvdoc/Institutions/escapees.htm.

Another way of protecting yourself is to keep yourself updated about the details of the ‘most wanted’ criminals in the State of West Virginia. A photograph accompanied by physical details and the nature of the offense committed are displayed prominently in the webpages of http://www.wvstatepolice.com/wanted/wanted.shtml. You can also contact the local authorities at 304-442-7213 if you know the whereabouts of an armed and dangerous criminal.

Past Court Decisions

You may also wish to find out old records for the sake of legal research. Attorneys and practicing lawyers often have to go through old case files in order to reinforce their arguments efficiently. The state archives of West Virginia are an ideal place for finding historical legal decisions.

Court records including the criminal records for West Virginia have been maintained by the archives and you can find many which are over a hundred years old. Since maintaining old, archaic documents on paper becomes difficult, the state of West Virginia maintains them in the form of microfilms. You can easily access all the documents you want if you make a formal request to the state archive. The service does require you to pay a token fee.

Current records pertaining to West Virginia criminals can be obtained from the state departments as well as from the respective county courthouses. The state government works in conjunction with the counties in order to keep an updated and accurate list of criminal records in their repositories. The system functions well and you are likely to get your results the next day.