Texas criminal records are maintained by the Department of Public Safety in a statewide database that employers, landlords, and licensing agencies routinely check. You can search those records yourself through a public DPS portal for $1 per search, request a fuller fingerprint-based copy of your own history, correct mistakes in what the state holds, and in many cases either seal the record from public view through a nondisclosure order or destroy it entirely through expunction. Which option is available depends on how your case ended and what the offense was.
Searching a Texas Criminal Record
Anyone can run a name-based search through the DPS Criminal History Name Search portal. You enter a last name and first name, add a date of birth if the name is common, and pay $1.00 per search as a site credit. Results appear immediately.1Texas Department of Public Safety. Criminal History Name Search
The portal has strict limits. It returns only convictions and cases that ended in deferred adjudication. Arrests that were dismissed, cases that ended in acquittal, and charges that were never filed do not appear.2Department of Public Safety. Public Information Requests It also contains only records submitted by Texas criminal justice agencies, so out-of-state offenses and federal charges won’t show up.3Department of Public Safety. Crime Records Services FAQs Juvenile adjudications are confidential and generally unavailable through the public system; those requests run through the juvenile court that handled the case.
Getting a Fingerprint-Based Copy of Your Own Record
For a complete picture of what the state and FBI hold on you — the version a licensing board or government employer would see — you need a fingerprint-based check through the Fingerprint Applicant Services of Texas (FAST) system. You schedule an appointment at an enrollment center, bring government-issued photo ID, and have your fingerprints digitally scanned.4Texas Department of Public Safety. FACT Clearinghouse
The total cost runs about $37: roughly $10 to the vendor, $15 to DPS, and $12 to the FBI for the national search. Results come back through a secure electronic portal or by mail within a few business days. Because the match is based on your prints rather than your name, this version is more accurate and more comprehensive than the public portal, and the FBI component can surface federal and out-of-state records.
Correcting Errors Before Someone Else Finds Them
The database is only as accurate as what local agencies report. Charges get attributed to the wrong person, dismissals never make it into the system, and dispositions sit outdated for years. DPS runs an Error Resolution Unit specifically to fix these problems.5Texas Department of Public Safety. Criminal History Error Resolution
To start a correction, gather certified documents proving the error — a certified court disposition showing a dismissal is a common example — and submit them with a DPS Error Resolution Form by mail or to error.resolution@dps.texas.gov. If someone was arrested using your identity, DPS treats that as “misuse of identity” and routes it through a different program. Fixing a record is far easier before an employer or licensing board sees the wrong version than after.
Expunction: Destroying the Record
Expunction is the stronger of the two remedies. When a court grants it, every agency holding records of the arrest — DPS, the arresting police department, the court clerk — must destroy them. The arrest effectively ceases to exist in any government database. Texas recodified the expunction statute under Chapter 55A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, effective January 1, 2025, replacing former Chapter 55.6State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 55.01 – Right to Expunction
You can petition for expunction if one of these applies:
- You were tried and acquitted.
- You were convicted and later pardoned.
- You were arrested but never charged, and the waiting period has passed: 180 days for Class C misdemeanors, one year for Class A and B misdemeanors, and three years for felonies.
- An indictment or information was filed but later dismissed or quashed, including dismissals after completing a veterans treatment court, mental health court, or pretrial intervention program.
Expunction is not available if you were convicted (unless later pardoned) or if you received deferred adjudication. That second limit catches many people off guard, because deferred adjudication ends in a dismissal. It still doesn’t qualify, because the court placed you on community supervision. For deferred adjudication cases, the remedy is a nondisclosure order.
You file the petition in the county where the arrest or prosecution happened. As of January 2026, the combined statutory filing fees at the county-court level total at least $350, covering the local consolidated civil fee, state consolidated civil fee, and expunction-specific fees.7Office of Court Administration. County-Level Court Civil Cases and Actions Courts can waive fees in certain cases, including acquittals where no other charges from the same incident remain pending.
Nondisclosure: Sealing the Record
A nondisclosure order does not destroy the record. It seals it. DPS and law enforcement can still see the data, and so can certain state licensing boards, but the record drops off the public portal and cannot be disclosed to most private employers, landlords, or background check companies. Texas offers two routes depending on the offense.
Automatic Nondisclosure for Nonviolent Misdemeanors
If you successfully completed deferred adjudication for a nonviolent misdemeanor and have no prior convictions or deferred adjudications beyond fine-only traffic offenses, the court must issue a nondisclosure order automatically — no separate petition required.8State of Texas. Texas Government Code Section 411.072 – Procedure for Deferred Adjudication Community Supervision; Certain Nonviolent Misdemeanors You pay a $28 fee to the court clerk and present evidence of eligibility. The order issues either at the time of your discharge and dismissal (if at least 180 days have passed since you were placed on deferred adjudication) or as soon as practicable after that 180-day mark.
The automatic path excludes misdemeanors involving weapons, offenses against the person, family violence, disorderly conduct, prostitution-related offenses, and DWI or boating-while-intoxicated charges.
Petition-Based Nondisclosure
For offenses outside the automatic path, you can petition under Government Code Section 411.0725. This covers felonies and the serious misdemeanor categories excluded above.9State of Texas. Texas Government Code Section 411.0725 – Procedure for Deferred Adjudication Community Supervision; Felonies and Certain Misdemeanors Waiting periods depend on the offense type:
- Standard misdemeanors not in an excluded chapter: eligible immediately on discharge and dismissal.
- Misdemeanors in the excluded chapters above: two years after discharge and dismissal.
- Felonies: five years after discharge and dismissal.
Throughout your community supervision and the waiting period, you cannot pick up any new convictions or deferred adjudications beyond fine-only traffic offenses. A single new offense in that window disqualifies you entirely.10State of Texas. Texas Government Code Section 411.074 – Required Conditions for Receiving an Order of Nondisclosure The filing fee is the standard civil filing fee, around $54 at the court-clerk level, plus county-specific court costs.11Office of Court Administration. Justice Court Civil Filing Fees
Offenses That Can Never Be Sealed
Some offenses are permanently ineligible for nondisclosure, no matter how much time passes or how clean your record has been. You cannot seal a record if the offense involved — or if you have a prior conviction or deferred adjudication for — any of the following:
- Sex offenses requiring registration under Chapter 62 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
- Murder or capital murder (Penal Code Sections 19.02 and 19.03)
- Human trafficking (Sections 20A.02 and 20A.03)
- Aggravated kidnapping (Section 20.04)
- Injury to a child, elderly person, or disabled person (Sections 22.04 and 22.041)
- Stalking (Section 42.072)
- Violation of a protective order (Sections 25.07 and 25.072)
- Any offense involving family violence
If the court finds that the specific offense you’re trying to seal involved family violence, the petition will be denied even if the statute of conviction isn’t on the list above.10State of Texas. Texas Government Code Section 411.074 – Required Conditions for Receiving an Order of Nondisclosure The family violence exclusion is the broadest and catches cases that look eligible based on the charge alone.
What Employers and Landlords Must Do If They Check Your Record
When an employer or landlord uses a third-party company to pull your criminal history, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) sets rules you can enforce. Before ordering the report, the employer must give you a standalone written disclosure that a background check may be obtained, and you must sign a written authorization.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports Burying that disclosure inside an employment application violates the law.13Federal Trade Commission. Using Consumer Reports: What Employers Need to Know
If they decide to deny you based on something in the report, two notices are required. First, before the final decision, a pre-adverse action notice with a copy of the report and a summary of your rights, so you can dispute errors before anything is final. Second, if they go ahead with the denial, an adverse action notice identifying the reporting agency, stating that the agency did not make the decision, and informing you of your right to get a free copy of the report within 60 days and dispute inaccurate information.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681m – Requirements on Users of Consumer Reports Employers and landlords who skip these steps face liability under the FCRA, which is worth knowing if you’ve been turned down for a job or apartment without any paperwork explaining why.