You can run a free public criminal record check in California by combining a handful of official sources: the online case search on each county Superior Court’s website, county sheriff jail rosters, the state prison inmate database, and the Megan’s Law sex offender registry. Federal cases sit in a separate system called PACER, which is free for light use. What you cannot get for free, or as a member of the public at all, is the California Department of Justice “rap sheet” that compiles a person’s entire criminal history statewide. That record is confidential by law and only the person it belongs to (or an authorized agency) can request it.1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 11076
Free tools show you individual cases and current custody. The DOJ record aggregates everything. Knowing that difference up front keeps you from expecting a single search to hand you a complete history.
County Superior Court Case Search
The most useful free tool is the online case search offered by each county Superior Court. California has 58 Superior Courts, one per county, and each maintains its records independently. There is no single statewide portal, so you have to go to the website of the county where the case was filed.2Judicial Branch of California. Public Records Court records from criminal cases, including complaints, hearing minutes, and final judgments, are public under the California Public Records Act.3Office of the Attorney General. Public Records
On most county sites the feature is labeled “Case Search” or sits under “Online Services.” At minimum you need the person’s name. A date of birth or case number helps enormously, because common names return dozens of hits and without a secondary identifier you cannot reliably tell which case belongs to your subject. Results typically show the case number, the charges filed, hearing dates, and the disposition, which is what tells you whether the case ended in a conviction, dismissal, or something else.
The obvious limitation is geography. If you do not know where someone was charged, you may have to search several county sites one at a time. Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento all offer free online lookup, but the interface and the level of detail vary from one county to the next. Some smaller counties may require a visit to the clerk’s office instead of offering an online search.
County Jail Inmate Rosters
Most county Sheriff’s Departments run free online inmate locators that show who is currently in custody at the county jail. These update frequently and are the fastest way to confirm whether someone has been recently booked. A search usually asks for the person’s full name; adding a date of birth or booking number narrows things down.
What you see depends on the county. Some locators list the booking date, housing facility, charges, bail amount, and upcoming court dates. Others show much less. San Bernardino County’s tool, for example, displays housing and booking information but explicitly excludes court and charge details. Once someone is released, county jail records generally stop updating, so treat these as current-status tools rather than history sources.
California State Prison Inmates
For people serving time in state prison rather than county jail, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation runs a free search called the California Incarcerated Records and Information Search, or CIRIS.4California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. California Incarcerated Records and Information Search (CIRIS) It covers people currently held in CDCR facilities and can return the name, CDCR number, current location, commitment county, admission date, and parole eligibility. CDCR notes the data may contain errors, so treat it as a starting point.
Sex Offender Registry
California’s Megan’s Law website, operated by the Department of Justice under Penal Code 290.46, is a free searchable database of registered sex offenders in the state.5State of California. Search for Registered Sex Offenders Law enforcement updates it daily, and you can search by name or location. This is one of the few free California tools that ties identifying details to specific convictions.
To check beyond California, the U.S. Department of Justice runs the National Sex Offender Public Website, which pulls data from all 50 state registries. You can search by name, zip code, or a radius around a street address.6U.S. Department of Justice. Search Public Sex Offender Registries
Federal Cases Through PACER
Cases prosecuted in federal court, such as immigration offenses, tax fraud, drug trafficking across state lines, and crimes committed on federal land, will not appear in any California county court system. Those live in PACER, the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system run by the federal judiciary.7Public Access to Court Electronic Records. PACER: Federal Court Records
PACER requires a registered account and charges $0.10 per page, capped at $3.00 per document.8Federal Judiciary. PACER Case Locator If your total charges stay at $30 or less in a calendar quarter, the fees are waived entirely, so a handful of searches on named individuals effectively costs nothing. The PACER Case Locator lets you search all federal district courts by party name at once, which is far more practical than checking each of California’s four federal districts separately.
What a Free Search Will Not Show
A clean result from any of these tools does not necessarily mean a person has no criminal history. California has steadily expanded the categories of records shielded from public view.
Under Penal Code 1203.4, someone who completes probation can petition to withdraw their plea and have the case dismissed. The conviction still happened, but the dismissal sharply limits how it can be used and it will not appear in most background checks, although it must still be disclosed for public office applications and certain state licensing inquiries.9California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1203.4 Penal Code 1203.425 goes further, granting automatic record relief for eligible convictions without any petition. The DOJ identifies qualifying records and clears them, so records can drop out of public view without the person having done anything.
Arrests that never led to a conviction and juvenile records are also generally excluded from public access. And no free tool replicates the DOJ rap sheet, which is the only document that pulls every arrest, detention, and disposition statewide into one place.
If You Want the Official Record on Yourself
You cannot pull someone else’s DOJ record, but you can request your own through a process called Record Review. California residents submit Live Scan fingerprints using Form BCIA 8016RR and check “Record Review” as the application type. The DOJ charges a $25 processing fee, plus a separate rolling fee to whichever Live Scan vendor takes your fingerprints; fee waivers may be available for the DOJ charge.10State of California Department of Justice. Criminal Records – Request Your Own Residents outside California can mail in manual fingerprint cards with Form BCIA 8705 and the $25 fee. Records obtained this way cannot be used for visa, immigration, or foreign government purposes.
For federal history on yourself, the FBI offers an Identity History Summary for $18, requestable electronically or by mail.11Federal Bureau of Investigation. Identity History Summary Checks Frequently Asked Questions It is separate from the California DOJ record and covers only federal arrests and dispositions.