Pennsylvania Criminal History Pennsylvania Criminal History

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About Pennsylvania Criminal History

Pennsylvania criminal records are divided among several levels of government. The Pennsylvania State Police Central Repository supplies state criminal history results. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections tracks state custody, while the Pennsylvania State Police Megan's Law Public Website provides registry information. Courts and local agencies in all 67 counties hold other parts of the record. We built this private reference site to help readers identify the right official system or county office without having to guess which agency keeps each document.

Why We Built This Site

Public access in Pennsylvania depends on knowing which record is needed. Pennsylvania State Police compiles the central criminal history repository and operates PATCH. The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections maintains information about people in state custody or under its supervision. The Megan's Law system and Unified Judicial System docket portal serve different public purposes. Arrest reports, booking entries, county jail status, and filed court documents remain local. This site organizes those statewide paths and connects each local subject to a separate county resource. Use the county directory when the original record belongs to a county police agency, jail, sheriff, or Court of Common Pleas.

What You Will Find Here

  • Court record guidance: ways to find and interpret Pennsylvania criminal court cases
  • Official check instructions: differences among PATCH, mailed PSP forms, own-record review, and authorized fingerprint channels
  • Statewide source summaries: what the repository, corrections locator, registry, and court docket search each provide
  • Record relief context: where Pennsylvania expungement and limited-access matters begin and why the filing county matters
  • Local routing: a directory of all 67 Pennsylvania counties with a criminal records resource for each county

What We Cannot Do

This is a privately run reference site, not part of Pennsylvania government. It has no authority over PSP, a court, police department, sheriff, or corrections office. Those limits mean that we cannot:

  • Retrieve an official report or conduct an official background check
  • Submit a request, challenge, or expungement petition for a visitor
  • Certify a rap sheet, docket, or other government document
  • Offer legal advice about a charge, warrant, or court case
  • Promise that an agency's fee, address, or procedure has not changed

An official copy must come from Pennsylvania State Police, the filing court, or the local agency that created and maintains the record.

Search Partners

Independent providers power search boxes that appear on some pages. Each provider controls its service, prices, data, and results. A paid signup reached through one of those tools may generate a referral fee for us, which supports public access to this reference material. We do not set the provider's charges and cannot verify that its results are complete or current.