At it’s essence criminal records are a summary of someone’s historic past with law enforcement and the court system. This summary should include things such as police arrests, convictions in court, what the sentence was, dismissals in some cases, guilty or not guilty verdicts, and parole information. Additional more personal information is also recorded in a criminal record such as the height and weight of the person, color of eyes and hair, any identifying marks like tattoos, and aliases. Criminal records can be found using central state systems and local courts / police departments. Below you’ll find resources to help with criminal record checks at the state level.