Offender Records

Offender Records

Offender records are documented, filed, and maintained by courts and government agencies across the United States. They are essential to keeping transparency among the citizens interacting with each other on a daily basis. Offender records can be found in numerous different ways, though some methods might be quicker than others.

Offender records can be viewed by anyone to give you more information about a friend or family member’s history with the law. Many people use them to perform a basic “background check” on social media encounters and other people we meet online. It’s common for this information to be kept from you because it can contain embarrassing or shameful events in their past.

You can also view your own offender records to confirm that the information inside is accurate and up-to-date. You’ll want to ensure there isn’t any false information about you since anyone can view your offender records.

What Are Offender Records?

Offender records are documents detailing court cases that involved a crime being committed by a citizen. Anyone who is charged with an offense can be known as an offender of the law. Those that repeatedly break the law are known as habitual offenders and will likely have a lot of information in their offender records.

When someone gets arrested, they are put through a legal process through law enforcement and the court systems. The court dealing with the issue will depend on the crime being committed, but it will either take place in a federal, state, city, county, or a local court.

There are both federal and state laws requiring the courts, law enforcement, and government agencies to file and maintain any documents making their way through the court -- though some exceptions will apply along the way. Depending on the scenario, this information will be released to the public once filed.

Offender records can detail misdemeanor offenses, felonies, infractions, traffic violations, and even civil cases someone was involved in. Let’s take a look at what this information can contain in more detail.

Misdemeanor Offense

A misdemeanor offense will include a wide range of crimes. They are right in the middle of severity, less-serious than a felony and more-serious than an infraction -- we’ll get into those in a moment, though. A misdemeanor is reserved for crimes leading to no more than 1 year of incarceration.

Since a misdemeanor offense will vary state-to-state, they split it up into different classes depending on the severity of the punishment. This helps us compare offenses much more accurately across the nation. Here’s a look at what those classes are:

• Class A - imprisonment for 6 months to 12 months
• Class B - imprisonment for 30 days to 6 months
• Class C - imprisonment for 5 days to 30 days
• Infraction - imprisonment of up to 5 days

Some of the most common misdemeanors in the United States are basic assault, indecent exposure, public intoxication, trespassing, petty theft, and vandalism. If you’ve been involved in a crime that led to a misdemeanor, it can be viewed in your offender records.

Felony Offense

In contrast to a misdemeanor offense, a felony is reserved for the most serious crimes. These offenses can lead to incarceration anywhere from one year to life. Due to the severity of some cases, some information pertaining to the case might not be released. You will, however, be able to view that they have the felony.

In comparison to misdemeanor offenses, felonies are classified into different categories based on the severity of the punishment. Let’s take a look:

• Class A - imprisonment for life or the death penalty
• Class B - imprisonment of 25 or more years
• Class C - imprisonment of 10-25 years
• Class D - imprisonment of 5-10 years
• Class E - imprisonment of 1-5 years

Some of the most common felonies in the United States are murder, rape, drug and sex trafficking, or burglary. If someone’s been convicted of a felony, it can most definitely have a negative affect on their ability to re-assimilate back into society.

Traffic Violations

Traffic violations can include any violation or crime committed while driving. These violations can lead to a variety of punishments including a misdemeanor, infraction, felony, incarceration, fines, and community service.

Offender records will detail what the offense was for and the outcome of the offense. If you’ve ever been pulled over and given a citation, even just for speeding, it will be out in the open for anyone to see.

Civil Cases

If you’ve ever been involved in a court case for whatever reason, that information will be available as well. This can include evictions, foreclosures, having a lien placed on your property, filing for bankruptcy, personal injury cases, and anything else that takes place in a court setting.

In the offender records report, it will list any court case numbers and other information that can link you to the specific court it was handled in. This will allow you to visit their database in order to obtain more documents and information.

How to Find Offender Records

With all of the information listed above, it’s safe to say that you can get a fairly good taste of someone’s character and personality by searching offender records. Although most background checks will only contain information dating back 7-10 years, a public records search can pull up information dating back to their birth.

You can search for offender records and other public records right here on our website. All you’ll need is the person’s first and last name. Even if you only know the first initial of their last name, it will be enough to at least get a start. Type that name into the search engine located below and hit ‘search.’ You can enhance your results by adding their last known location.

Once you hit ‘search,’ you’ll have to look through the possible matches and find the right person. If you know their date of birth, city or state, or any other information, it will definitely help you confirm the right identity.

What are you waiting for? Start uncovering information you didn’t know about people today!