Why We Built This Site
Public access in Virginia starts with choosing the right custodian. A Virginia State Police criminal history is not the same record as a court case file, an arrest report, or a jail booking. The Central Criminal Records Exchange compiles identity-linked criminal history reported by contributing agencies. The Virginia Department of Corrections tracks state custody and supervision, the state registry publishes legally disclosable registrant information, and Virginia courts index criminal cases. Local courts and law-enforcement agencies create and retain much of the source material. This resource brings those statewide routes together and connects readers with project sites for the local details, including office contacts, portals, procedures, and fees. The Virginia jurisdiction directory routes requests to the appropriate county or independent city.
What You Will Find Here
- Virginia system overviews: what the state repository, court search, corrections locator, and registry contain, along with their access limits
- Case-record directions: how to find and understand Virginia court case information
- Official check instructions: how the Virginia State Police criminal history process handles name and fingerprint channels
- Record-restriction information: the difference between Virginia expungement and the sealing framework effective July 1, 2026
- Local routing: a directory of 107 Virginia project jurisdictions, including counties and independent cities with local agency contacts
What We Cannot Do
Virginia Criminal History is a privately operated reference resource. It is not connected with Virginia State Police, a Virginia court, the Virginia Department of Corrections, a sheriff, a police department, or any other government body. Those boundaries mean we cannot:
- Provide certified court documents, rap sheets, or other official records
- Run an official criminal history check for any person
- Give legal advice about a charge, warrant, conviction, sealing, or expungement matter
- Submit a records request, court petition, or other filing for a reader
- Promise that an agency's address, fee, telephone number, or procedure has not changed
An official copy must come from its Virginia custodian, such as Virginia State Police, the court, or the local agency that created the source record. This resource can identify that office but cannot issue the document.
Search Partners
Outside companies operate the search boxes shown on some pages. Each provider controls its service, prices, and results. A paid enrollment reached through one of those tools may generate a referral fee for Virginia Criminal History, which supports free access to the reference material. We do not set a partner's charges and cannot control the contents of its results.