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The New Jersey State Police retain all criminal history records for the state. On its website, it’s possible to search and seek records of various kinds.
What Are Criminal Records?
Criminal records are those that hold all of a person’s past criminal history. This can include the local, state and federal criminal information. The record may also include information about the person, such as their address, date of birth, name, any aliases they have, fingerprints and a photograph.
Your criminal records may include:
- Past arrest information
- Current and pending charges
- Acquitted charges
- Dismissed charges
- Warrants
Any misdemeanors or felonies will also be listed on this report.
How Are Criminal Records Used?
Criminal records can be used in many ways. Usually, they are searched during a background check.
Background checks may happen for several reasons, such as:
- Employment, where a company wants to know about a potential employee
- School admittance, such as when you apply to a college or university
- Property rental
- Security clearance
- Purchasing weapons or firearms, since felons are not able to purchase or own weapons in most cases
- Military service
- Fostering or adopting
- Voter registrationWhen you want to travel internationally and obtain a visa or for purposes such as naturalization or immigration
- For law enforcement purposes, like as a part of a criminal investigation
How Can Someone Access Your Criminal Records?
Most of the time, you will need to give consent for another person or organization to access your criminal record. However, law enforcement and those in the government may have open access. You may also have to give permission for certain kinds of purchases, such as if you want to purchase a firearm.
General Public
The general public can access some criminal records as public records. For example, you can perform a background check and find out more about a person’s public records, such as their divorce or marital history, DUI records and past addresses. A criminal record check is more specific and includes information like a person’s arrests, penalties and convictions. Additionally, a criminal record check may include more information about what they look like, including their height, weight, tattoos and other defining features.
Sex Crimes
Sex crimes are one area that are relative open to the public because of the sex offender registry. Visiting the state’s sex offender website, such as the New Jersey State Police Sex Offender Internet Registry, makes searching simple. Some people will remain on this registry permanently, but not all do. Every state treats sex offenders differently.
How Can You Request a Criminal Record?
If you want to request your criminal record or another person’s, then you can do so by going to the New Jersey State Police’s website and the NJ Criminal History Records Information page. There, you will find specific instructions on how to obtain a criminal record for yourself or someone else based on the reasoning for obtaining it. There are specific rules that apply to these applications, so you may have to take different steps depending on why you’re looking for a criminal record.