The Sex Offender Search API, field by field.
The offender search API: one call searches all 58 US registries — every state, DC and the territories — and returns scored, source-cited, continuously updated records in the richest schema in the category. First 25 calls free.
No card required. Your key works immediately. New here? Start with the sex offender API overview. Still choosing a vendor? The top-5 sex offender API comparison puts every published number side by side.
One request, one defensible answer
curl https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/search \
-H "X-API-Key: $OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"query": {
"firstName": "John",
"lastName": "Doe",
"dob": "1980-04-12"
}
}'What the offender search API gives you
One call, all 58 US registries
The 50 states, DC and the US territories — 58 registries — searched in a single request, with people de-duplicated across jurisdictions into one record.
Scored, explained matches
Every record carries matchConfidence, matchState and matchBasis: how much identity evidence exists, how the date of birth verified, and which fields matched and how.
The richest record in the category
A 76-field schema: photographs, aliases and nicknames, typed addresses with coordinates, statute-level offense history, physical description, flags and normalized housing status.
Provenance on every record
Each record names the registry that holds it, that registry’s own permanent record link, and when we last read it — a citation you can store beside the decision.
Completeness you can trust
Every response says which of the 58 sources answered in full. An incomplete search is labelled — never silently returned as an empty result.
Batch, async and webhooks
POST a CSV or JSON batch and get one scored result per row; run large sweeps async and receive the finished result at your callback URL.
Search the way callers ask
Name with nickname and misspelling handling, DOB or age with tolerance, city, ZIP, street address, free text, and lat/lng radius up to 100 miles.
Drop-in migration
A compatibility endpoint accepts the request shape and returns the envelope other offender APIs use — switch by changing the base URL and key.
Call the sex offender search API from Python or JavaScript
Every request is a single POST /v1/search with your key in the X-API-Key header. The same body works from any language; these are the two we are asked for most. The full field list is in the record object reference.
import os, requests
resp = requests.post(
"https://api.offendersearch.app/v1/search",
headers={"X-API-Key": os.environ["OFFENDERSEARCH_KEY"]},
json={"query": {"firstName": "John", "lastName": "Doe", "dob": "1980-04-12"}},
timeout=30,
)
resp.raise_for_status()
for r in resp.json()["records"]:
print(r["name"]["full"], r["matchState"], r["sources"][0]["recordUrl"])Search by name, date of birth, address or radius
One endpoint answers every way people actually ask. Add a date of birth whenever you have one: it is the single biggest cut in false positives, because a common name stops matching everyone who shares it. How matching and scoring work.
| Search by | Use it when | Request body |
|---|---|---|
| Name + date of birth | Screening a known person — an applicant, tenant, volunteer or patient. | { "query": { "firstName": "John", "lastName": "Doe", "dob": "1980-04-12" } } |
| Name + approximate age | You have an age but not a full date of birth. | { "query": { "firstName": "John", "lastName": "Doe", "age": 46 } } |
| Name + state of residence | Narrowing a common name to people who live in one state. | { "query": { "firstName": "John", "lastName": "Doe", "state": "TX" } } |
| Address or ZIP | Checking who is registered at or near a property. | { "query": { "address": "123 Main St", "zipcode": "60614" } } |
| Latitude / longitude radius | Mapping registrants around a school, facility or listing. | { "query": { "lat": 41.9, "lng": -87.65, "radiusMiles": 1 } } |
Screening a list rather than one person? Use bulk sex offender search — one row in, one scored row out.
Where teams use the sex offender search API
Property management
Screen rental applicants and check the registrants around a listing before you sign a lease.
Senior living and nursing homes
Check every admission automatically, with a date of birth so one resident means one answer.
Staffing and recruiting
Add a registry check to onboarding without sending the candidate anywhere.
Gig platforms and marketplaces
Screen providers at signup and keep watching them with monitoring.
Schools, childcare and youth programs
Check staff, coaches and volunteers before they work with children.
Dating and social apps
Run a safety check at signup or before a match meets in person.
Need criminal history as well as the registry? The criminal records API runs on the same key, and the background check API page shows both layers together.
Sex offender search API pricing
| First 25 calls | Free, no card required |
| Each search | $0.15 |
| Past 2,000 calls in a month | $0.11 per call |
| Live re-verification | +$0.02 per completed source, capped at $2.00 a search |
| Verification PDF | +$0.02 each |
| Batch | Each row billed as one call |
| Seats, minimums, contracts | None |
Full detail, monitoring and volume terms: API pricing.
Sex offender API questions
How fast can I make my first call?
Minutes. Sign up, create a key, and your first 25 calls are free with no payment method. The quickstart is a single curl command, and the response above is the real shape you get back.
What does the API cost?
$0.15 per call, dropping to $0.11 after 2,000 calls in a month. No seats, no minimum, no annual commitment. Live re-verification adds $0.02 per completed source, capped at $2.00 a search, and verification PDFs are $0.02 each. Volume and enterprise terms are available.
How current is the data?
Continuously updated. Every record carries its own lastCheckedAt, so you can see the currency of each answer per record and per source instead of trusting a blanket claim.
Does one search really cover every state?
Yes — omit jurisdictions and the search runs across all 58 US registries at once. A state in the query is a residence filter on the results; it never narrows where the search looks, so an out-of-state registration still surfaces.
Is there a dashboard as well as the API?
Yes. The same account includes a full no-code dashboard — search by name, upload CSVs, stored search history and teammates — so your compliance team can screen today while your engineers integrate the API on their own schedule.
Is this a consumer report?
Not on the standard API: standard results are not a consumer report. FCRA-regulated use runs through FCRA Partner Access, a separately enabled service for approved consumer reporting agencies and screening platforms under a written FCRA agreement. Use is subject to our acceptable-use terms and applicable law.
The Offendersearch APIs
One account, one key, one bill — the sex offender registry and criminal records, side by side.
Sex offender registry
- Sex offender API — One call across 58 US sex offender registries, with scored matches and a citation on every record.
- Sex offender database — The national registry data in one schema — photos, aliases, offenses, addresses.
- Registered offender database — What a registered offender record holds, and how its accuracy is measured.
- Bulk sex offender search — Screen a whole list of names in one upload or one API call.
Criminal records
- Criminal records API — County, state and federal records — jail, prison, court and warrant — through one API.
- Criminal background check API — One cited answer per person for onboarding and screening flows.
- Criminal search API — The search endpoint itself: parameters, record types and coverage, call by call.
- Background check API — The registry and criminal layers together, on one key and one bill.
- Employment background check API — The registry and criminal data layer for HR, ATS and screening platforms.
- Bulk criminal record search — Run a list of names against criminal records in one call.
Build with it
- API documentation — Quickstart, every endpoint, the record object and the OpenAPI spec.
- Background check API pricing — $0.15 a call, $0.11 past 2,000 a month, 25 free calls to start — worked out by volume.
- Background check API integration — Keys, the first call, async and webhooks, batch, monitoring and errors, step by step.
- MCP server for offender search — Give Claude and other AI agents the same search as a tool.
- Offendersearch vs offenders.io — A side-by-side comparison of the two registry APIs.
Further reading
Independent comparisons of the tools in this category — including where other vendors are the better answer.
The best sex offender APIs in 2026, compared
Five ways to search US registries programmatically, measured on coverage you can enumerate, provenance, match quality and price.
The best criminal record search APIs in 2026
Jail bookings, prison custody, court cases and warrants are four different systems. Which API you want depends on which one your question needs.
The best background check APIs in 2026
Five brands, three companies: the consolidation nobody mentions, each vendor’s real published price, and the only per-call API on the list.
More in our comparisons and research.
Ship offender screening this week
25 free calls, a five-minute quickstart, and a compatibility endpoint if you are migrating. The dashboard covers your operations team while you build.