To look up criminal records in Pennsylvania, you have two main options: the free UJS Portal for browsing court dockets, and the Pennsylvania Access to Criminal History (PATCH) system for an official State Police background report. The UJS Portal is faster and costs nothing but is informational only. PATCH costs $22 for a standard check and produces the report used for employment, licensing, and volunteer screening. Which one you should use depends on whether the results need to carry legal weight.
The Two Main Ways to Search
The Unified Judicial System (UJS) Portal at ujsportal.pacourts.us gives you free access to docket information from courts of common pleas, magisterial district courts, and appellate courts statewide.1Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Judiciary Web Portal It’s the fastest way to see whether someone has a case in Pennsylvania’s court system, what the charges were, and how the case ended. The courts make no guarantees about accuracy or completeness, so the portal is not appropriate when you need something official.
PATCH, run by the Pennsylvania State Police Central Repository at epatch.pa.gov, produces the official criminal history report.2Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Access to Criminal History – Home Employers, licensing boards, and volunteer coordinators require a PATCH report, not a UJS printout.
Information You Need Before Searching
Gather identifiers before you start. At minimum you need the person’s full legal name and date of birth. Aliases and maiden names help when the name is common. Knowing the approximate county or time period of the offense makes UJS results far more accurate, because you can filter by county. For PATCH, the State Police may also require the person’s sex and race. If you’re requesting your own record for personal review, you’ll need a government-issued photo ID.
How to Search the UJS Portal
Go to ujsportal.pacourts.us and select “Case Search.” You can look up records by participant name, docket number, Offense Tracking Number (OTN), complaint number, or citation number.3Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. Case Search Searches run statewide by default; narrow to a specific county to cut down on false matches. Results show case status, hearing dates, charges filed, docket entries, and dispositions.
There’s also a free mobile app called PAeDocket, available for iPhone and Android, that searches by the same criteria. It shows charges, court dates, hearing schedules, and case status. Reliability can be uneven based on user reports, so confirm anything important through the full website.
How to Request a PATCH Background Check
Online requests through epatch.pa.gov require a credit card. About 85% of the time the system returns an instant “No Record” result you can print immediately.4Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Access to Criminal History (PATCH) If the identifiers match something in the database, the request moves to “Under Review.” Registered users typically wait up to two weeks; non-registered users may wait two to four weeks. PATCH no longer mails results for online requests, so you have to print your own copy.
Mail-In PATCH Forms and Fees
Use one of these forms if you’re submitting by mail or need a notarized copy:5Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Request a Criminal History Background Check
- SP 4-164, standard background check: $22, or $27 notarized. All notarized requests must go by mail.
- SP 4-170, individual access and review: $20. This is the form for requesting your own record.
- SP 4-164A, volunteer check: free. Cannot be notarized.
Payment must be by certified check or money order payable to “Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” Personal checks and cash are not accepted.6Pennsylvania State Police. Request for Criminal Record Check SP 4-164 Mail everything to the Pennsylvania State Police Central Repository, 1800 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110-9758. Mail-in requests take several weeks longer than online submissions.
When a PATCH Check Isn’t Enough
A PATCH check only searches Pennsylvania’s state criminal database. For a nationwide check, you need an FBI fingerprint-based background check. Pennsylvania requires this for anyone who will have direct contact with children or vulnerable adults. School employees, student teachers, childcare workers, foster parents, and contractors working in schools need three separate clearances: the State Police criminal records check, a Department of Human Services child abuse history clearance, and the FBI federal check.7Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Clearances – Background Checks An FBI check obtained for one purpose generally cannot be reused for another agency’s requirement.
To get fingerprinted, pre-register through IdentoGo at identogo.com or 1-844-321-2101. You’ll need a service code matched to the type of clearance you’re requesting. The fee is $24.95 for employees and $22.95 for volunteers.8Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. FBI Fingerprinting After pre-registering, you visit an IdentoGo center in person for prints.
The Sex Offender Registry Is a Separate Search
Pennsylvania maintains a separate, publicly searchable Megan’s Law registry at meganslaw.psp.pa.gov. It lists names, photographs, addresses, and offenses of registered sex offenders who live, work, attend school, or are transient in the state.9Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Megan’s Law Public Website The registry draws partly on self-reported information and may not be current. It is not a complete list of everyone who has committed a sexual offense in Pennsylvania. The State Police note that the only way to positively confirm someone’s identity as a registered offender is through fingerprint comparison. Using the registry to threaten, intimidate, or harass a registrant or their family can result in criminal prosecution.
County Courthouse Records for Older Cases
Individual county courthouses keep their own criminal case files, and some go back decades in formats that never made it into any online system. You can visit the Clerk of Courts in person to search public computers or ask for manual lookups from older docket books and microfiche. Fees vary by county and search type, so call the specific Clerk of Courts before visiting. Some counties also run their own online search tools through their websites.
What Won’t Appear in Your Search
Several categories of records are shielded from public view under Pennsylvania law, and they will not turn up on the UJS Portal or a standard PATCH report.10Pennsylvania General Assembly. Right-to-Know Law – Enactment
- Juvenile records are generally confidential. Files on juveniles are kept separate from adult records and are not open to public inspection unless the case was transferred to adult criminal court, national security requires disclosure, or a court specifically orders it.
- Expunged records have been removed from public databases by court order. They may still be visible to law enforcement in limited circumstances, but not to employers, landlords, or the general public.
- Sealed records under Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate Law are hidden from public background checks while remaining accessible to law enforcement and courts.11Montgomery County, PA – Official Website. Expungements and Clean Slate
An ARD disposition, Pennsylvania’s most common pretrial diversion outcome, is not a conviction, and successful completion leads to expungement of the arrest record under Rules 319 and 320 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure.12Pennsylvania Courts. 234 Pa Code Rule 320 – Procedure for Expungement Upon Successful Completion of ARD Program So an old ARD case may not appear at all. One narrow exception: an ARD DUI still counts as a prior offense for sentencing purposes if the person is charged with another DUI within ten years.
How to Read Your Search Results
A docket sheet is the master summary of a single case. It lists the defendant’s name, the court, the filing date, the charges, and every action taken from start to finish. The most important field is the disposition, which tells you how the case ended. Common dispositions include guilty, not guilty, nolle prossed (the prosecutor dropped the charges), and ARD (entered a diversion program).
Charges are labeled by grade. “F1” through “F3” are felony grades, with F1 the most serious. “M1” through “M3” are misdemeanor grades. “S” indicates a summary offense, the least serious category. If a charge code is unclear, cross-referencing the statute number on the docket sheet with Pennsylvania’s Crimes Code (Title 18) will tell you exactly what the charge was.
One thing that trips people up: a UJS result showing charges filed does not mean the person was convicted. Always look at the disposition. Charges without a final disposition may still be pending, and charges that ended in acquittal or dismissal are very different from convictions.