# Data coverage & limitations

> The catalogs are the truth and they are public. This page explains how to read them and what they do not claim.

- **HTML:** https://offendersearch.app/docs/data-coverage
- **Base URL (live):** https://api.offendersearch.app — live keys (`os_live_…`)
- **Base URL (sandbox):** https://sandbox.offendersearch.app — test keys (`os_test_…`), never billed
- **Authentication:** `X-API-Key` request header
- **OpenAPI:** https://offendersearch.app/openapi.json · https://offendersearch.app/openapi.yaml
- **Docs index for agents:** https://offendersearch.app/llms.txt

## The two catalogs

| Product | Catalog | Auth | What it lists |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Sex Offender Search | `GET /v1/sources` | None | Every jurisdiction searched — the 50 states, DC, the territories and tribal registries — with status and freshness. [Jurisdictions](/docs/jurisdictions). |
| Criminal Records | `GET /v1/criminal/sources` | None | Every criminal source by public code (`TX-DOC`, `TX-HARRIS`, `US-COURT`): record type, scope, `status` (live or pending) and `health.lastSuccessAt`. [Coverage](/docs/criminal/coverage) · [All data sources](/docs/criminal/data-sources). |

Read the catalog at integration time rather than hard-coding a list: coverage grows, and a source's freshness changes daily.

## Source categories

| Category | Product | What a record is |
| --- | --- | --- |
| State sex offender registry | Sex Offender | A current registrant as the state publishes them: names, aliases, DOB, addresses, offenses, photographs, registration status. |
| Tribal and territorial registry | Sex Offender | The same, for a tribal nation or a territory. |
| County jail roster / booking | Criminal | A booking: who, when, on what charges, and release where published. |
| State prison system (DOC) | Criminal | An inmate or supervised person: offenses, sentence, custody, facility, parole. |
| Court records | Criminal | A criminal case: case number, court, filing, charges, dispositions. |
| Warrant system | Criminal | An active warrant as published. |
| Exclusion list | Criminal | A health-care or procurement exclusion; returned with `include: ["exclusions"]` where the basis is administrative. |
| Federal | Criminal | Bureau of Prisons inmates, federal dockets, federal warrants and exclusions. |

## Freshness: cached and live

- A regular search reads the platform's copy of each source. Each source carries `lastCheckedAt` on the records it returns and `lastSuccessAt` in the catalog.
- A live re-check (`live.jurisdictions` or `live.scope: "matched"`) asks the source itself during your request and is billed per source; `sourceStatus[]` reports each one's outcome. Some sources are live-only by design and are never in the cached copy; the catalog says so.
- Live evidence (`live.evidence: "pdf"`) returns the registry's own page as a document, for workflows that must keep what the source displayed.

## Limitations, stated

- Holding records from a jurisdiction is not the same as complete coverage of it. A county jail roster holds bookings for a window; a court source holds the years it publishes. The criminal catalog names the source; the per-source history window is being added to it.
- A match is a candidate, scored. It is not a confirmed identity.
- An arrest or a booking is not a conviction. Read the charge's `disposition` and the record's `currentStatus`; see [arrests vs. charges vs. convictions](/docs/guides/criminal/arrests-charges-convictions).
- A `200` is not complete coverage. Read `status`, `counts` and `sourceStatus[]`.
- No result does not prove no record exists. It means none was found in the sources searched, to the extent they were searched.

## Current scale

As of 2026-10-22 the criminal catalog listed 1,899 sources across 52 states and territories (1,547 live, 352 coming soon), and the sex offender search covers 58 jurisdictions. These numbers change; the catalogs are current.

## Related

- [Sex Offender jurisdictions](https://offendersearch.app/docs/jurisdictions)
- [Criminal coverage](https://offendersearch.app/docs/criminal/coverage)
- [Completeness & source status](https://offendersearch.app/docs/result-completeness)
- [Data model rules](https://offendersearch.app/docs/platform/data-model)