The Criminal Records API
Search in seconds across US criminal records — county, state and federal — the way you already search the offender registry. It is being built now; this page is how you get it first and how you shape what it covers.
Not callable yet. The sex offender registry search — 100% US coverage, continuously updated — is live today: search it or read the API reference.
Three record layers, one search
County
The courthouse layer. Most criminal cases in the US are filed and resolved in county courts, spread across thousands of separate court systems — which is exactly why nobody wants to search them one at a time.
State
The state layer. Many states operate a statewide repository or court portal, each with its own search, its own fields and its own rules. One statewide answer per state is the goal — and every state at once.
Federal
The federal district courts. Fraud, interstate offenses and other federal cases live in a system entirely separate from the states — a record that never appears in any county or state search.
Why teams are asking for this
A criminal history is scattered by design: a county conviction lives in one court system, a state repository may or may not reflect it, and a federal case lives somewhere else entirely. Anyone screening seriously today is stitching those answers together by hand, portal by portal, with nothing saved and nothing consistent between them.
- One search across the layers, instead of a tab per courthouse
- Results in one consistent schema, each record citing where it came from
- A full API for your own system, and a dashboard for teams without code
- Built by the team behind the live registry search — 100% US coverage
Tell us which counties, states and use cases matter to you — join the beta.
Criminal records API FAQ
Is the criminal records API available today?
No. It is in active development and not callable yet. This page exists so teams who need it can tell us, and so it gets built against real requirements rather than assumptions. What is live today is the sex offender registry side of Offendersearch — one search across every US registry, 100% US coverage, continuously updated, with a full API and a no-code dashboard.
What will it search?
The goal is criminal records across the three layers where they actually live — county courts, state repositories and the federal district courts — behind one search, in the same scored, source-cited shape the registry API returns today. Which counties and states ship first will follow demand from the beta list.
When does the beta open?
We are not publishing a date we have not earned. Priority follows demand from the beta list, which is the honest answer and the reason the list exists. Joining costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Will it work like the sex offender registry API?
That is the intent: one search instead of many portals, results in a consistent schema, each record carrying where it came from, and both a full API and a dashboard for teams who never want to write code.
Is this a consumer report?
No. Offendersearch is not a consumer reporting agency and results are not a consumer report. Do not use them for FCRA-covered decisions without appropriate process — the same terms that govern every other endpoint.
The record types in this beta
Criminal Background Check API
Screening-shaped: run a criminal check inside your hiring, tenancy or marketplace flow when the beta opens.
County Criminal Records
The courthouse layer — where most criminal cases actually live, spread across thousands of county courts.
Federal Criminal Records
The federal district courts: fraud, interstate and other federal offenses that never appear in a county search.
Statewide Criminal Search
One search per state instead of a patchwork of portals — and every state at once when the beta opens.