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Free Online California Criminal Records

By Claire Dowell


It is the task of the Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General to safeguard California Criminal Records. The documents are made available to the general public because of the Freedom of Information Act. Criminal documents usually reveal a full name of an offender, the crime committed against the law, and the time and place where it was committed. Although the documents are considered a part of the public domain, they are kept from the public if the criminal is proven not guilty as charged.

You are allowed to acquire your own files so that you can check if there is any incorrect detail/s included. If you believe that there are details that are not incorrect, secure the Claim of Alleged Inaccuracy or Incompleteness form and supply it with all the required information and send it back to the Department of Justice together with the requested criminal file

To initiate a search, secure a Live Scan request form from the Department of Justice. Fill out the form appropriately with all the required details and also include your contact information. Then have your fingerprint scanned at the closest live scan site and get your fingerprint card. Submit the request form, fingerprint card, ID issued by the government, and the corresponding payment. There is a different payment for requesting the files and for the fingerprint scan. You can submit a request at the federal level by heading to the state's Federal Bureau of Investigation or at a county level by going to the arresting office where the files are initially filed.

Acquiring the files of other individuals is possible. However, this right can only be exercised by a few parties. Arresting officers are given this right, all the more when it is for a current case investigation. Employers are given this right so they can carefully select from the applicants those who are law-abiding citizens. Landlords also share this right so they can appropriately screen potential tenants. Individuals who conduct background check can get access to other people's files but will only be given the basic details.

The records can also be obtained from online service providers that specialized in providing them to the public. There are several of such providers that are authorized by the government but there are also some that are bogus ones. To make sure that you are getting authentic information, conduct a background check on them first. Try to see if other users are satisfied with the kind of information that they were provided with.

There are websites that ask for a certain amount of fee for the documents while there are some that provide Criminal Records Free To Public. Websites that require fees are capable of providing an extensive amount of information regarding criminal documents. On the other hand, free websites will usually give only the basic facts of a document. It is prohibited by law to use the documents against other people such as in defaming, harassing, embarrassing, or blackmailing. Anyone caught not observing this will be penalized accordingly.




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