# Is there a website which lists arrest records?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-website-which-lists-arrest-records/338016>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 2, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-website-which-lists-arrest-records/338016 "2006-01-02T00:32:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chefIL11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-website-which-lists-arrest-records/338016/1 "2006-01-02T00:32:27Z")

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I was told that there is a website where arrest records can be viewed and searched through and its public access. Has anyone heard of such a site? This particular site was for Illinois

Is this legal? Are all arrests public information?

any idea where this site is?  
/has never been arrested!

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**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-website-which-lists-arrest-records/338016/2 "2006-01-02T00:45:42Z")

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You want arrest records–not records of convictions?

We had a thread on court records, generally, a while back. In that thread, I posted some links to sources of conviction records.

Anyway, [this](http://www.virtualchase.com/resources/criminal_records.html) is one of the links. It looks like some states do have some arrest records online.

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**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2006, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-website-which-lists-arrest-records/338016/3 "2006-01-02T00:57:10Z")

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There are lots of sites for looking up this info. The following are the easiest to use, and are mostly free:

[Search Systems](http://www.searchsystems.net/)

[Black Book Online](http://www.crimetime.com/online.htm)

[CCAP](http://wcca.wicourts.gov/index.xsl) (Wisconsin only)  
[Publicdata.com](http://www.publicdata.com/) is NOT free, but has records for most states. Check the free ones first before paying for the info you’re looking for.

And yes, most adult arrest records are public information, even if there has been no conviction.